Mega Man: Advent X
by Vincent M. Pierce
Summary: Mega Man: Advent X is a story that takes place almost 100 years after the events of Mega Man Zero 4, read on to find out what it is all about... ;
1. Chapter I

Forward: This story takes place after the forth Zero War, as to what happens from here on out, I am aware there are games dated after the forth ZW. Consider this laternate universe/timeline. Also as the the beggining of the story, let's just say I hadn't familiarized myself with the Mega Man X backstory first. . . Oopsy.

Issuing a small hiss the pneumatic latches of the stasis pod released, allowing the door to open revealing a single occupant within. The blond haired youth blinked a few times as he awoke, yet did not move. At first he laid there listening to the thoughts that were drifting across his mind, 'The sky... the sky is blue. There are clouds in the sky... the clouds are white.' As he sat up his mind was a complete jumble, sights, sounds, thoughts, everything seemed to pummel the young man at the same time. It was several minutes before he was able to collect himself enough to form a coherent thought, when he tried to delve into his mind for basic information such as who he was and why he was here, nothing came to the surface. Try as he might the young man continued to think and yet nothing came, there was information, a lot of information, but no memories, no identity, nothing. Perhaps the city would hold the answers he sought, that thought evaporated the moment he looked up. Of the building that the stasis pod stood in there was only one partial wall still standing, everything else was in ruin, all that remained were a few piles of scattered rocks and debris. Beyond the city itself appeared to be in the same condition, buildings of all shapes and sizes rose up in every direction, and all of them showed signs of deterioration, some worse than others.

The larger buildings had fared much worse than the smaller with entire sides missing revealing what had once been large office buildings or residences, others appeared to be in advanced states of disrepair, and there were no signs of life. It didn't look as though anyone had lived here for decades, possibly centuries. The young man was about to throw his feet over the side of the stasis pod and stand up when his attention was caught by his own reflection in the smooth metal of the chamber door to his right, despite the visage being his own, it was one unfamiliar to him. He sat there for a time just staring, taking in the mildly distorted image. He saw a young man with average length light blond spiked hair, large blue eyes, an average looking slender nose, and a medium sized mouth with unexceptional lips. He was dressed in a deep blue sleeveless sweater with a zipper pulled down to just below his collar. There was a single black leather strap across his chest fastening a matching shoulder pad to his left shoulder which bore a metal lion's head, and a pair of black cloth cargo pants with military style boots. Now that he had a mental image of himself the threw his legs over the side of the chamber and stood up, there was a moment of uncertainty as he carefully fidgeted in place testing his muscles to make sure everything was in place and working properly.

Once he knew nothing would malfunction when he tried to move the young man looked around taking the sights of the city in, carefully looking everything over. The streets were strewn with debris, overturned cars, several of the buildings had begun to shift and tilt under the weight of collapsing foundations... he was alone. He walked to the back of the pod to where the controls were located to see if the stasis chamber might hold some information regarding his missing identity, or even the reason he was in stasis in the first place. The control panel consisted of a single green screen surrounded by the same off-white metal that the chamber was made of, below was a small keyboard with several dozen buttons. Most of the information on the screen appeared to be garbled and illegible, nothing more than erratic symbols and numbers, for some reason the young man seemed to instinctively know what buttons to push and commands to enter. They keys produced a small but rapid series of taps as he attempted to access the data files within, but nearly every query he entered was greeted with a flashing red 'FILE CORRUPTED' warning. The only information he was able to access was the capsule's time logs and system diagnostic readouts. The pod had been active for one-hundred and three years and he had been woken now because the progressive system corruption, when the pod had reached the point of being unable to function any longer it had triggered a protected emergency reanimation sequence.

This posed quite the situation for him, no memories, no idea of where he was, what to do, or where to go, so he simply began to walk. Making his way through the streets of the litter strewn city he looked around casually, the buildings appeared to vary in both design and function. There was one in particular that caught his attention, a small building with a faded sign over the top that read 'Grocery'. All of the glass that made up most of the building's front had been destroyed, yet many of the shelves inside remained, some of them tipped onto their side. It was such a strange feeling to him to have no memory of anything prior to waking up, every little thing seemed to catch his attention, every detail, every curiosity. While it was a little unnerving to not know anything, it was also like an adventure with every little thing being of some interest however briefly. The city was huge, perhaps he'd take the time to explore it once he knew more about what was going on, but for the time being he needed to find... something. "What an interesting city," the young man said to himself. He was intent on continuing his exploration when something drew his attention away from the grocery store, he wasn't sure what at first... a sound.

He quickly scanned the area for the source of the disturbance, not seeing anything he let his vision wander focusing on his hearing. He heard it a second time, the sounds were faint, but they were sharp issuing discharges, the first thing to come to his mind was weapons fire. Even with the inherent danger involved in such the young man couldn't simply walk away, everything was a curiosity to him. He wondered why people would even be fighting here, this didn't seem to be a likely place for a battle to occur. After a moment the gunfire stopped, he heard running feet and they were coming in his direction. They continued to move closer to his location until he saw three people come around the corner of an alleyway at full speed. The man in the lead was tall and muscular, wearing a tan colored tank top with camouflage cargo pants and black boots. His gray hair was cropped short and his face was weathered, with an arched nose, slender mouth, and hard eyes the young man estimated he was likely in his late forties to early fifties. The man behind him was almost the exact opposite, a barrel with legs, with matching cargo pants, a black t-shirt, and deep green open front vest the man was devoid of any hair on his head save for a pair of red eyebrows. Despite being at least twice the size of the man in the lead he seemed able to keep pace. The last person to come around the corner was a rather gangly looking young man, easily the tallest and thinnest of them all he was dressed in the same cargo pants as the the others, gray undershirt, and a vest that was buttoned up in front. He also wore a helmet from under which his black hair stuck out in all direction with his clothing and equipment that looked to be at least one size too large. All three men were also carrying long gray/white rifles the young man seem to instinctively recognize as particle rifles. "Come on man, you want a 'loids to get you?" the tall man in back yelled as they all ran by.

Still confused by the entire situation the young man didn't have long to think before several rounds of particle beam fire ripped past him as a number of large metallic gray soldiers rounded the same corner as the soldiers. Curious or not the young man had no intention of getting shot so he took off after the other three trying to keep his head low. As a group they dashed through several alleyways trying to lose their pursuers, as they went the young man thought, using the information that seemed to simply be in his mind to get a handle on the situation... why would reploids be chasing humans he wondered. The gray haired man in front was nearly cut down by a particle beam as he exited the alley in front of them, it almost caused a collision between him and the heavy-set man as he scrambled to get away from the weapons fire. "Crap, some of them must have circled around, we're cut off!" They immediately took cover behind anything they could, they gray haired man ducked behind the body of an old destroyed motorcycle, the large man behind a dumpster, and the tall man ducked behind a stack of metal boxes with the young man next to him. Within seconds particle beams began ripping through the alley in both directions. The three who appeared to be soldiers of some sort tried to fire back, yet being fired at from both directions they were ducking for cover more than they were attacking their enemies.

The young man looked down and saw a particle pistol holstered on the tall man's hip, "Excuse me," he said. Grabbing the weapon he ducked out from behind the boxes and fired three shots, each striking one of their pursuers through the right eye. Again relying on knowledge that seemed to be crammed into his brain he knew the CPU was housed directly behind the right eye, and sure enough the three he had struck dropped lifelessly to the ground. "Nice shooting." the tall man said. It was also the first time the young man had had the chance to get a good look at their pursuers, they were all identical in design, metallic gray with thick helmets sloping back, solid red eyes, and no visible facial features. Their bodies were large, smooth, and covered in heavy armor with their right forearms formed into a cylindrical shaped canon "We're pinned down," the gray-haired man said, "we've gotta get out of here before we're cut to pieces." The young man heard a small clicking sound nearby, looking back he saw the heavy set man aim for the wall across the alleyway. He unleashed a burst of rapid pulse shots instead of a solid beam causing the wall to collapse in a shower of dust and debris. No one needed further instruction and all four quickly dove through the new exit.

The room they landed in appeared to be a long abandon school cafeteria, rectangular in design it was filled with numerous rows of neatly arranged tables and chairs with a serving counter against the right wall. They all ran for the door against the opposite wall quickly dashing into the hall beyond. The entire situation was confusing to the young man, waking up in a strange place with no memory of who he was or why he was here. Now he was involved in a fire fight he felt he really had no part of, but considering these three men had warned him prior to the reploids shooting at him, he felt this was the safest course of action for the time being. He paused long enough to fire a pair of shots striking two more of his pursuers through the right eye before following after the others. According to his recollection there were fifteen attackers to start with and he'd already gunned down five... ten left. As they dashed down the hallway another group appeared in front of them opening fire, the young man cursed to himself about how fast these mechanical things were as he ducked into a bathroom along with the others. Expecting the machines to come charging through the door he was surprised when they stopped firing, there was an eerie silence as everyone waited and listened, then the young man caught a glimpse of one of the mechanical soldiers in the mirror of the bathroom directly across the hall. He had his back to the wall and was making some sort of gestures with his hand.

Not sure exactly what was going on the young man raised his hand and repeated the gestures for the others to see, then raised the pistol in his hand banking a shot off the mirror across the hall and striking the mechanical soldier through the eye. With the sixth soldier down the hall erupted in particle fire again, only their aim was nowhere near the four of them. "What's going on?" the young man asked.

"They're trying to distract us while others circle around back." the tall man said.

This time it was the gray-haired man who blew a hole in the wall behind them, they all made their way outside into another alley, it was the young man who made some hand gestures now, he tapped his ear, pointed to one end of the alley, and held up three fingers. The gray-haired man, the apparent leader, waved his rifle in the other direction and they moved towards the T-junction behind them. One of the soldiers at the other end of the alley poked his head around the corner to see where everyone was, and got a particle beam through the head for his effort compliments of the tall man causing him to collapse across the exit to the alley. "Seven down, eight to go." the young man said. As they came around the corner, two on either side, the young man noticed the T-junction dead ended in both directions. With the others taking a moment to catch their breath the young man looked around, "Those things are kinda stupid for reploids, wouldn't you say?"

"They're not reploids... mechaniloids, limited... intelligence shock... troops." the large man said between breaths. To the sound of three sets of mechanical feet walking down the alleyway towards them the gray-haired man took a small fist sized object out of his pocket, pulled a pin out of it, and tossed it around the corner without even looking. Following an almost deafening explosion he ducked out just long enough to look, then leaned back and nodded. "Three down." They all waited for the rest of the soldiers to move in but they were once again greeted by an eerie silence, there were no sounds, no movement, nothing. "They've gone into stealth mode." the tall man whispered. The large man looked up and opened fire a moment later emptying several rounds into the air before one of the mechaniloids fell off the top of the building crashing to the ground below. The young man listened carefully and motioned behind the gray-haired and tall man on one side of the alley, then pushed the tall man beside him to the ground a split second before a metal fist slammed through the wall where his head should have been.

He tossed his particle pistol to the tall man, then grabbed the fist before it could retract and ripped the mechaniloids through the wall in a shower of bricks, on the other side of they alley the other two pressed their backs against the opposite side of the wall and opened fire cutting through both the wall and another mechaniloid. The young man tossed his opponent to the ground and slammed his foot into its head hard enough to collapse the helmet, with the arm still in his grip he pulled up tearing it free of the torso to the sound of wrenching metal and sparking wires. Another mechaniloids leapt through the hole in the wall trying to tackle the young man only to be knocked aside by a swing of the metal arm he was holding. The second soldier crashed to the ground and before he was able to recover the young man literally beat him to death with the severed arm, smashing it into his head time and time again. The young man was about to look around for the final mechaniloid soldier when the large man opened fire through the hole in the wall they had made moments ago, to the sound of another metal body hitting the ground he tallied fifteen soldiers mentally.

"Now what the hell is going... on?" the young man started to say. When he looked up he noticed the others staring at him strangely.

"Что-то не справедливо с этой вантой," The bald man said to the gray haired man.

(There is something not right with this guy.)

"Чему, я сделал что-то неправильно?" the young man asked.

(What, did I do something wrong?)

"You speak Russian tovarich?" The bald man asked, obviously surprised.

"Apparently," the young man said.

"Hold on a minute, let's get introductions out of the way first," the gray-haired man said, "I'm Sergeant Relix, this is Corporal Falk," the said motioning to the large man, "and that is Private Quar."

"Hey," Quar said, waving from behind the young man.

"And you are?" Relix asked.

"Don't know," the young man said.

"You don't know your own name?" Falk asked.

"Nope. Don't know who I am, how I got here, or why I'm even here in the first place," the young man said.

"What's the first thing you remember?" Relix asked.

"Waking up in a stasis pod, wandering around a city, then getting into a fire fight with three guys against some mechaniloid soldiers, that's pretty much it. What's the big deal anyway, something's not right with me you said, what's not right?" the young man asked.

"Jerking a mechaniloid through a wall, stomping on it's head, then ripping his arm off and beating another to death with it is what's wrong. Mechaniloids are built from a durotanium alloy, usually weigh at least a ton, and are on average ten times stronger than a professional human bodybuilder, how did you all of that?" Relix asked.

"Hey I know as much about me as you do, why were those mechaniloids chasing you anyway?" the young man asked.

"You been livin' under a rock or something kid? They're a security detail from Neo Arcadia out hunting us so called mavericks. Don't tell me you've never heard of Neo Arcadia." Falk said.

"I don't know anything, and just so you know I've been in stasis for the last one hundred and three years. Like I said, the few memories I have start from me waking up in that stasis pod shortly before I ran into you guys, that's it. I don't know who I am, where I am, what's going on, nothing." the young man said.

"Well you might wanna pick a name until you remember you real one, easier than saying 'hey you' all the time," Quar said.

"Call me Daniel I guess," the young man said, picking a name completely at random.

"We can sort this out later for now we need to get out of here before more mechaniloids show up, or worse reploids, let's go." Relix said.

After the little gab session the four companions quickly made their way through the city. Along the way Falk voiced interest in seeing this stasis pod that Daniel had mentioned, Relix however stated such was to dangerous right now and it was left at that. Daniel had no idea where they were going but Relix appeared to be leading them out of the city, he was also surprised at how easily Falk carried himself and began to think that perhaps there was more muscle and less fat than he had first thought. It didn't take the long to make their way through the ruined city without further incident or sight of hostile mechaniloids. Stepping out into the wilderness Daniel looked around thinking to himself that there was no visible means of transportation.

"Don't you guys have a vehicle or something?" I asked.

"We did, until the mechaniloids blew it up." Relix said.

"Can't you call for back-up? I mean you do have back-up right?" I asked.

"Our radio was in the truck, the comm-units we have are short range only, the base is about three days by foot from here, we better get walking." Relix said.

The other thing that Daniel noticed was although the people he was traveling with didn't seem to breathing as heavily as they had been during the fight, their respiration rate was still elevated... his wasn't, in fact he didn't feel fatigued in the slightest. Even though considerably curious about everything and everyone around him, after the incident with the mechaniloids Daniel decided it best to keep to himself. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to alienate the only humans he had met up to this point. Quar tried making small talk with him but having almost no life experiences to draw from Daniel had little to discuss, he did try to be as polite as possible though. Their little trek continued on into the evening, and then as night fell Relix called for the group to make camp for the night after they had entered a moderately populated forest. He also forbid the making of a campfire over Quar's objection to the cold stating the light would be too easy for possible enemies to spot. Once everyone was seated in a small circular formation the three soldiers took small packages out of the pockets of their cargo pants along with small silver canisters of what Daniel learned was water. Relix held up what looked like a small granola bar, "Emergency rations, look and taste like saw dust, but they'll keep you alive."

He smirked and tossed one to Daniel, "It's got all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients your body needs for an entire day."

"Assuming you can eat it," Falk said. Everyone looked over to see the large man literally trying to gnaw on one of the bars though he didn't appear to be making much progress. Daniel carefully bite the ration bar and didn't seem to have much problem chewing it, though the description given by Relix was fairly accurate. There was almost to taste at all, and the consistency of the ration was granular. "As long as it keeps me alive I don't care if it tastes like mud," Quar said, through a cheek full of food. Daniel was about to ask what they were doing in the city to begin with when something caught his attention. He looked around from side to side for a moment before Quar leaned over, "What is it?" he whispered.

"I heard something, sounded like one of those things from earlier."

At that the entire party was on their feet, rifles in hand, and once again Daniel armed himself with Quar's particle pistol. Daniel locked eyes with another robotic figure about a quarter mile back in the tree line, it looked similar to the mechaniloid soldiers from earlier, only he appeared to be more advanced, brown in color like his surroundings, and the noise being made by it was so faint that he barely heard him moving about. When the two locked eyes the robotic figure froze, likely trying to determine if it had been seen or not. Daniel reached over smacking Quar on the shoulder lightly and pointed to the figure in the woods. As soon as the taller man shined the light under his rifle on the figure he yelled, "Scout!" and cut loose with his rifle, the others, including Daniel immediately followed suit tearing several trees in half as they attempted to gun down their target.

"Is it down?" Relix asked looking around.

"No, I can hear him moving through the trees, he's too far out, doubt we could catch him now." Daniel said.

"Did you get a look at what was out there?" Falk asked.

"Not sure if it was a reploid or mechaniloid, he was about my height, brown in color, didn't look like he had any weapons, at least none that I saw." Daniel said.

"You saw all that?" Falk asked.

"Didn't you?" Daniel responded.

"I had to shine a light just to see where you were pointing at." Falk said.

"It was a mechaniloid recon unit, they're designed to return to base the moment they're discovered. It'll report our position as soon as it gets back we should keep moving." Relix said.

It had only been about two and a half hours since we had made camp, but with recent events everyone agreed it was best to move on before reinforcements arrived, it was best to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and our last known position. Relix lead the group in an eastern direction, something Daniel was able to determine using the stars in the sky to reference his current position as well as track their entire journey since they had left the city. They continued to walk for about thirty minutes as the trees slowly thinned out until gave way altogether. In light of everything that had been going on Daniel wasn't sure being out in the open was the best choice so he voiced his concerns. "Uh, you know where you're going? This field isn't exactly the best place to be caught," Daniel said.

"Of course I know where we're going, I was planning to head north after we had rested until that recon unit found us. If a recon unit had located us already it means the enemy isn't too far behind, if we tried to turn north now we'd be intercepted." Relix said.

"You've already been intercepted humans." A voice said.

Everyone immediately spun to see who had addressed them, and even Daniel knew this was a reploid rather than a mechaniloid. His appearance with similar in design to the mechaniloids, only he looked heavier, his body was a dull brown trimmed with yellow, and there were five small black stars across his upper right chest. The only thing out of place was the green jewel in the center of his helmet, his right forearm was an the same cylindrical canon as the mechaniloids had and he didn't look in the least bit happy to see Daniel and his friends.

"General Geros?" Relix said, "I didn't know you still did field work."

"I've held a field commission since I was a second lieutenant and I'll keep it until I'm dead, now drop your weapons and put your hands in the air, you're all under arrest." Geros said.

"Who is this guy?" Daniel said.

"I'm not a guy, I'm a reploid. General Geros, commander of the Neo Arcadian Armed Forces," Geros said.

What occurred next went down so fast that Daniel didn't even realize it until everything was over. Relix, Falk, and Quar all raised their rifles at the same time only to be beaten to the punch by Geros. He fired a large wave of concussive orange energy at the group knocking all of them to the ground, Daniel was momentarily dazed, he blinked a few times and looked at the others who were sprawled across the ground. He placed two fingers against Quar's neck and felt a steady pulse, apparently the attack had been meant to stun rather than kill.

"Friggin' cybers," Geros said.

Daniel looked up to see the canon on the general's arm shift into a different configuration, though he was already on his feet by the time he was in his enemy's sights once again. "Down on the ground boy, this thing is set for a full EMP discharge, don't make me fry you." Though he knew what EMP meant, Daniel wasn't sure if it would have any effect on him or not, regardless he didn't take kindly to being fired on. He charged at Geros and the general fired unleashing a blast of blue energy this time, when it struck the only thing he felt was a slight tingling sensation as the energy cascaded over his body. This turn of events seemed to take the reploid by surprise for some reason giving the young man enough time to plow into and knock him into the ground. Before he was able to take a superior position Geros kicked him in the back of the head hard enough to knock him forward and off, sending him tumbling to the ground. The two quickly scrambled to their feet with Geros shifting his arm canon for a second time, "What the hell are you, my sensors say you're human, but no human could take a bio-stun blast like that, and the EMP would have fried a cyborg."

"You're the second person to ask me that today, and I'll tell you what I told Relix, no clue."

The general lunged forward with more speed than a human would be capable of matching, yet Daniel did, when he swung his arm canon towards the young man's head it stopped short of it's target, blocked by a forearm. Daniel responded by head butting him hard enough to shatter the jewel in his helmet and send both of them staggering back from the force of impact. "Ow," Daniel said. Geros growled and ripped the damaged helmet from his head casting it aside without a second thought. It was interesting for the young man to see, this reploid appeared to be quite advanced, possessing detectable parts, unlike the mechanloids whose head and helmet were one solid piece. The general's head and face looked human, with dark blue eyes, what appeared to be skin, likely synthetic, a slender nose, a long slit for a mouth, and even had a head full of jet black hair slicked back against his scalp. Geros charged for a second time, only now he locked arms in a grapple attempting to overpower him and force him to the ground, in response Daniel pushed back slowly gaining the upper hand and forcing the general into the submissive position. "This is... impossible."

Exerting even more strength Daniel wrenched the general around slamming him into a tree hard enough to knock him off his feet, next he aimed his arm canon intent of firing and Daniel decided to go with what he knew by. He disarmed the general... literally, matching the reploids speed he wrapped his arms around the canon and ripped it free of the general's arm resulting in a loud scream. Staggering back he regained his balance tossing the severed canon to the general. "There, problem solved, now take a hike before the arm becomes a head." As odd as it seemed, Geros appeared to be in pain, he manage to stand up holding his arm and looked at Daniel, "This isn't over boy, not by a long shot." As he left Daniel quickly tried to rouse the others knowing someone like Geros wouldn't go too far without others to back him up in the event something like this occurred. After several mild face slaps and foot nudges the others finally started to come around.

"What... where'd Geros go?" Relix asked, sitting bolt upright.

"I don't know... I... only woke up a moment ago myself." Daniel lied.

After the first display in the city with the mechaniloids, the last thing Daniel wanted to do was have to explain how he had just ripped the arm off General Geros and sent him packing. "Come on, we gotta get moving," Daniel said. It wasn't that he wanted to pointedly lie to them, but he didn't know what else to do. It was becoming obvious to him that he was capable of more than they were, but he didn't know why, or how, such was possible. For the time being until he knew more about the situation he thought it best to down play things as much as possible.


	2. Chapter II

As a group all four individuals continued toward their destination, for another day and a half they made their way across the land on foot. They only stopped briefly to rest and eat, relying on their military training to help them press on. Although they maintained a roughly northern heading they did so in a round about way by heading north-east and changing directions every so often in an effort to avoid further encounters. The previous night when everyone was able to finally get some slepp, Daniel only pretended to sleep, despite the fact he didn't feel tired, so he laid on the ground and simply closed his eyes, trying to mimic the actions of the others. With several hours of free time on his hands and nothing to do, Daniel turned his thoughts inward, to himself. Not only was there a lot of information contained within his mind, more was appearing by the minute. Until now he hadn't had a chance to think about it, but now with so much time on his hands it was all he thought about. There were a number of hand to hand fighting techniques that were appearing in his mind.

Hapkido, Kung Fu, Jujitsu, Savat, Kenpo, a wide variety of styles based on the movement of animals, it was all coming so fast that Daniel couldn't make any sense out of it, in fact he could barely keep up with how fast everything was bombarding him. There were also full schematic designs for every type of reploid or mechaniloid in service one-hundred and three years ago, their armaments, capabilities, threat levels, those had been present since he had woken up, but where had it all come from. The other thing he couldn't explain was the fact that he was faster and stronger than his companions, he never seemed to tire or fatigue while they did, it was quickly becoming obvious to him that there were considerable differences between them. Having begun to unconsciousless fidget and shift in place Daniel didn't realize how much of a commotion he was making until he was drawn from his thoughts by Quar placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey bro, you okay?"

"What, huh?" Daniel said looking around, "Uh yeah, fine, just... bad dreams..."

"Remember anything?"

"Not really, just images and such..."

As the first golden rays of dawn were beginning to appear over the eastern horizon, the light from the early morning sun was already spilling across the field so Daniel decided to focus his thoughts elsewhere for the time being. Quar remained wake but silent, it was only a few minutes before the others woke up. Once everyone was awake Relix and Falk had what they called their morning smoke as everyone took out their quickly dwindling rations. Again Daniel was offered a portion, while he didn't feel hungry he also didn't want to seem any 'weirder' than he already had, so he took what was offered to him, absent-mindedly eating as the others talked amongst themselves. Breakfast was the last of the rations the group had with them but according to what Relix had said regarding the distance of the base it wouldn't be too long before they reached their destination. Following several stretches, yawns, and a few burps the journey resumed with Relix at the forefront of the group. For most of the morning the group walked in silence, there wasn't much chatter as they continued toward their destination. Near noon the small radio units on the shoulder of the three soldiers crackled causing the group to come to a stop.

"What is it?" Daniel asked.

"There's another unit in communications range, hold on," Relix said, grabbing the comm-unit on his shoulder, "Epsilon 6, 445-7 Eagle, over."

There was a slight pause before the response came, "Epsilon 6, that you? This is cargo transport Beta 3. Where have you guys been, you're way overdue checking in."

"Ran into some mechaniloids in Zergos, they blew up our ride but we managed to get away, we're all present and accounted for, plus one, over" Relix said.

"Plus one? Over." Beta 3 asked.

"Human, I'll leave my comm-unit's line open, trace it to our current location and pick us up, we're tired, hungry, and could use a lift, over." Relix said.

"Roger that Epsilon 6, hang tight, Beta 3 over and out." Beta 3 responded.

Daniel had no clue what the first part of the transmission dealing with the eagle meant, he assumed it was some sort of code. He was however thankful that someone was on their way to pick the group up, he wasn't tired in the slightest, he was just tired of the seemingly endless walk to this base he kept hearing about. Hopefully he could get some answers there, he had hoped that with time his head would have cleared up but it hadn't. His mind was still being bombarded by waves of information that made it hard for him to think clearly for extended periods of time. In the distance he saw a small dust cloud approaching the group, as it got closer he could see that it was a military transport truck, light brown in color with a cloth covering over the back. The other thing that caught his attention was the fact that it took the others a full two minutes to notice the trasport truck after he had. It pulled to a stop a few yards sort of the group, there were two men in the front, both dressed in brown fatigues wearing matching hats. The driver appeared to be in his late thirties to early forties with red hair, while the man who stepped out to greet them was much younger with dirty blond hair sticking out from under his cap.

Daniel paid little attention as everyone greeted each other, when Relix pointed to him and the younger man looked over they exchanged nods but not words. There wasn't enough room up front so everyone rode in the back with the cargo. In the back were a dozen medium sized wooden crates without any marking, all of which were guarded by a portly soldier wearing a combat helmet. He held a rifle in his hands and was also carrying several smaller firearms. The man in the back looked at everyone as they piled into to small area in the back of the truck, the others remain quiet, slumping down in their seats to relax as the truck began moving again. Daniel was still keeping to himself trying to deal with what was turning into a flood of information that was bombarding his mind, geographical information on Earth, human anatomy, the differences in gender and reproduction, hundreds of years worth of Earth's history, he had no idea where it was all coming from but it wouldn't stop, it was all starting to become more than he knew how to deal with, he wanted to it stop but it wouldn't. About a half hour after they were picked up Daniel noticed the ground suddenly starting to rise up, then he realized we were in fact moving through a tunnel leading underground, a subterranean base... interesting, he thought. The truck parked in a motor pool where there were a number of other military grade vehicles, mostly jeeps and other cargo trucks. The room itself was large and metallic in design with only two exits, the one we had come though and another leading into the base itself.

He noticed several people coming out of an office area off in the far left corner, there were four of them, one greeted the driver who appeared to be going over a list whle the other three bought small hand trucks to offload the cargo. Daniel followed Relix through the hall at the far end of the room to a single metal door which had a control panel next to it with a variety of buttons. He took a small card out of his pocket sliding it though a card reader, punched a few of the buttons, then a green light appeared on the panel and the door opened. The room they entered next was about a twenty by twenty foot room that was solid white in appearance with another door on the opposite wall, there was also a large black glass like strip running along the floor, walls, and ceiling in one continual piece that was about three feet wide in the center of the room. He had no idea what it was for until Relix stepped onto it. It was apparently either pressure activated or equipped with sensors, either way when Relix stepped onto the strip, it activated a series of light blue beams that quickly swept over his body from head to toe.

"Identity confirmed, Relix, Nathaniel, Sergeant. Bio-scan complete, no contaminants detected, proceed." A computer voice said, before the door at the far end opened allowing him through.

The process continued another two times for Falk, who's first name turned out to be Caleb, then for Quar who were all cleared and allowed to proceed. Daniel walked up to the strip feeling a little nervous now, what was he going to do, he'd never been here before the computer wouldn't know who he was.

"Sir, please step onto the bio-scanner." A voice said over an intercom.

"Are you sure, I mean the computer doesn't know who I am, heck I don't even know who I am, what do I do?" Daniel asked.

The man on the other end started to say something but was cut short he heard Relix's voice, "Just step onto the bio-scanner kid, when it confirms you're not carrying anything contagious it'll ask for your name, just tell it something until you remember your real name."

"Uh, okay."

When he stepped onto the bio-scanner it light up just like it had with the other three, the blue beams appeared like normal sweeping over his body from head to toe, then something different happened. The computer didn't say anything, instead the scanning beams swept over him an additional two times, each slower than the last. Daniel was clueless about what was going on, was there something wrong with him, was he sick, contagious, had he broken the scanner? When the computer finally did say something it was the last thing on Earth anyone expected to hear.

"Bio-scan error, unable to identify species."

"Excuse me?" Daniel said, an eyebrow raising noticeably.

There was a long silence after that, the young man waited a long time for anyone to say anything but no one did, he didn't hear anything going on outside the room, nothing. Unable to identify species, what the hell did that mean? He looked human, he had human skin, hair, eyes, just like everyone else save for normal differences in appearance. This was starting to make him nervous wondering if he would be greeted by some sort of armed guards considering this was a military base. When the door finally did open ten armed guards walked into the room rifles in hand taking position with five on the either side of the door, followed by an older man with blond salt and pepper hair, a mustache, dressed in a white lab coat with black slacks and light blue shirt. He appeared to be holding a small device of some sort. Now Daniel was nervous, armed guards, he hadn't done anything wrong, made any hostile gestures, nothing.

"Take it easy kid we ain't gonna hurt you, the guards are standard protocol in a situation like this. My name is Professor Gains." Gains said.

"What's going on professor?"

"That's what I'm here to find out, the bio-scanner has a complete catalog of every type of human, reploid, mechaniloid, and animal species on Earth, the fact that it can't identify you has raised some considerable questions. I'm here to run some more complex scans, it that alright with you?" Gains asked holding up the scanner.

"You're not going to have to poke or prod me are you?"

"Not at all, here watch." He said, turning the scanner around and pressing a few buttons he scanned himself, then handed the device to Daniel.

The monitor on the hand held scanning device, which looked like little more than a gray metal box with a screen and scanning strip at the top, had some highly detailed information. By pressing a button on the screen he was able to flip through a few different read outs giving information such as a skeletal display, muscle structure, heart rate, blood pressure, even his cholesterol count which the scanner suggested lowering by thirteen points. For something as small as this it gave some very accurate readings.

"Uh, it says you need to lower your cholesterol count by thirteen points."

"I'm well aware of that." He said, taking the scanner back

Professor Gains reactived the small and held device, sweeping the scanner slowly from head to toe he watched as the look of surprise on the man's face became so apparent he thought his eyebrows were trying to crawl onto the top of his head. Just like the bio-scanner he used the hand scanner two more times. Before Daniel even had a chance to ask him what was going on he dashed out of the room leaving the guards behind. Ten minutes or so later Gains returned with another man in tow, this man was tall, dressed in a very crisp looking green military uniform with a long coat, a chest full of medals, he even wore a hat. Like Gains he had a neat mustache only his hair from what could be seen was completely gray and he appeared to be in his late mid to late sixties at a guess.

"See, this is the... well I'm not even sure what, but you can scan him yourself if you want general."

The general just held up a hand to calm down Gains who appeared to be quite excited, once Gains had taken it down a notch the general walked towards Daniel at a slow pace, instead of coming directly up to him he slowly circled once before stopping directly in front of him. Once he had stopped he held his hands up taking one of his white gloves off, then held the hand out as if to shake. Daniel was still a little confused but shook his hand anyway, when he clasped the extended hand instead of shaking it he turned it so the back on the young man's hand faced up, then he squeezed gently a few times, ran his thumb across the back then let go, what all that was about he had no idea. After that the general touched his hair, then leaned down staring him straight in the eyes.

"Skin feels like skin, hair feels like hair, eyes look normal... what are you kid?."

With a small sigh he rolled his eyes slightly, telling the general the entire story as he knew it up until. How he had woken up in the stasis pod with no memory what so ever aside from some obvious basic things like speech and motor skills, encountering Relix and his men, getting into a fire fight with the mechaniloids. Even coming clean about what really happened with Geros on the edge of the woods. It was starting to get annoying because there was definitely some big commotion but he was the last one being told anything, in fact he hadn't been told anything at all. Once Daniel had finished my explanation he was determined to get some answers one way or another.

"Professor Gains I can see something about my bio-scan has you very excited, could you please calm down for a moment and throw me a bone here. Right now you appear to know a lot more about me than I do."

"Here." Gains said, handing over the scanner. Upon taking the scanner and turning it around to see the readings his expression was almost the same as the professor's for a moment, the bio-scan was absolutely nothing like Gains'. High density metallic synth-skin, bio-neural micro-circutry muscles, reinforced durotanium skeletal structure, powered by a reactor of unknown origin? For a long time Daniel just stood there looking at the readings. With everything on the bio-scanner monitor combined with the flood of information that was still bombarding his mind he just got to the point of being unable take it anymore, it was too much to handle. Sitting down on the floor he didn't do anything, he wasn't sad, mad, excited, scared, there was nothing. How did someone respond to something like that, he had no clue as to what to say or do.

"Something wrong with him?" The general asked.

"Ummm, judging from the amount of information his mind is processing combined with him thinking he was human until a moment ago... nervous breakdown? I really don't know." Gains said.

"Can you do anything for him?"

"I don't know I wouldn't even know where to begin... let me try something."

Daniel saw the professor come closer before he heard the sound of buttons being pressed, at first nothing happened. About fifteen seconds later the flood of information bombarding his mind slowed down, making it possible for him to think clearly. This was a change he hadn't expected, upon glancing up he could see Gains standing over him pointing the scanner at his head. Now he was curious as to exactly what the hell the man had done to him. Not because he was ungreatful, in fact it was quite the opposite, never the less he wanted to know.

"What did you do?"

"I used a simple command to reduce the amount of information being processed by your mind. Funny thing is the command was designed to interface with a computer, yet your mind accepted it anyway."

"Why?"

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were going through a memory boot sequence similar to what a reploid experiences the first time it's activated, you mind is trying to sort and catalog information, but the sheer volume of information is... incredible."

"How big?"

"Well, normally when a reploid is activated aside from model specific information they normally have about 50 petaquads of data stored in their CPU for processing, but Jiminy Cricket son your noggin's trying to process something to the order of 500 exaquads according to this." Gains said.

"How do you know that?"

"Because despite the fact you have what looks like a brain it appears capable of processing computer commands and transmitting data."

"Can you tell what's being processed in my head?"

"No, this hand scanner can't even begin to come close to storing 500 exoquads of information, plus it appears everything is very heavily encrypted, I mean this makes military grade encryptions look like a joke. Unless the general has any objections I'd like to take you to the med-lab so I can run some more tests, maybe at least get an idea of what's going on."

After a nod from the general, Professor Gains motioned for the young man to follow. Things had just gone from stange to unbelievable for Daniel, he had no idea what he was, they had no idea what he was. They said they had never seen anything like him before, it made him wonder if he was some sort of monster, freak, he wasn't even he wanted to know. They walked down several steel grey halls with a variety of doors before arriving at a circular tunnel that lead futher down, with a platform on their level. When they stepped onto it Gains pressed a button marked B3 causing the paltform to begin moving down. The elevator came to a stop three floors down with a small dinging noise, a pair of doors behind the two passangers, Daniel turned to followed the professor as he walked into another room. Simple in design it was square with two doors in the left wall, one marked 'Cmd' and other marked 'Lab'. Upon entering the lab the equipment within seemed considerably spare for a lab, there was a large screen against the far wall with a large control station filled with numerous buttons, dials, and levers below. To the right of the monitor were three metal beds tilted at a forty-five degree angle, a small metal table with what appeared to be various scanners and tools, and some wooden crates in the left corner of the room.

"Kinda thin on equipment there prof?"

"When you work with a group of outlaw rebels it's not like you can order stuff out of a catalog, we gotta make do with what we have. Now please lay down on one of beds if you would."

The bed closest to the computer station was the one Daniel chose to lay down on, about a minute or so after that he could hear the computer making various small noises and sounds as Gains began a series of scans. Glancing over at the professor from time to time his eyes were glued to the monitor as he typed like a madman, whatever information he was getting had him absolutely enthralled. He only glanced over at Daniel a time or two during the next hour, who in turn just laid there waiting, figuring Gains would say something when he was ready. He paged two other colleagues while the scans were running, both of which seemed as fascinated as the professor. They spoke in hushed tones among one another apparently trying not to be overheard despite the fact Daniel could hear every word they said as plain as day, the scientific nerd-fest was in full swing. Finally Professor Gains pulled a chair up next to the bed just staring for a time.

"Well?"

"Absolutely incredible, you're unlike anything I've ever have or ever thought I would see."

"Yeah I've been hearing that a lot recently, mind being a little more specific?"

"I'll do the best I can but honestly there's no precedent for... you. The closest thing I could equate to what you are is a cyborg, you're a combination of organics and technology fused to a degree that until now wasn't even thought to be theoretically possibly. I can't tell where one starts and the other stops. You have DNA, every part of your body has organic qualities, yet they also have technological aspects to them including the fact you're powered by an unknown type of reactor. Honestly the only thing I can say is you are literally a living machine, you are both human and reploid, yet at the same time neither, you are unique."

"What about my memories prof, will I ever remember who I am, what I was meant to do, anything?"

"Honestly I don't know, we can't access your systems anymore, they appear to have erected some sort of defensive system again outside commands. What little information we were able to get from your mind is so heavily encrypted it would take us years to decode if ever. All I can say is give it time your mind is sorting through an immense amount of data. Even one-hundred after you were created... born, I'm not even sure, the technology in your body is centuries ahead of anything I've ever seen. What other information can you access?"

"An entire repository of educational knowledge ranging from basic grade school mathematics to multiple fields of physics, an entire library of mechaniloid and reploid combat tactics current as of a century ago, several memory blocks of data files regarding human culture, society, mannerisms, mental disorders, you name it in regards to humans, I probably know it. That's just the tip of the iceberg, it would probably take me longer to list everything than it did to download."

"Nothing about your identity, who created you, anything of that nature."

"Nope. What do I do after this? I mean, where do I go, I gotta leave, what?"

"We can't force you to stay but believe me we would be more than glad to have you here, you'd have to pull your weight though, I'm sure they could find some work for you."

"As what, freak of the week, the thing people point and stare at?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Cross referencing the files on human psychology with historical information indicate it's human nature to fear and hate what they don't understand, what's different, what's not like them. Since the dawn of recorded history humans have waged war against one another, sometimes for no other reason than someone else wasn't like them, humans once enslaved their own kind, the first reploids were feared leading to acts of aggression and violence against them, need I go on?"

"People may not understand you, but given time to adjust I think they'll see and judge you for who you are not what you are, and you're not a freak you're unique."

"Yeah, whatever you say prof, if you'll excuse me I think I've had my fill of scans for the day."

Before Gains had time to say anything else Daniel stood up walking out of the laboratory, he wasn't exactly sure where to go, but right now the last place he wanted to be was around other people. Ever since those human psychology files had downloaded themselves being around people wasn't something he was all that enthusiastic about, this mind set was something that humanity had remained true to since the dawn of recorded history, so what was there to convince him they were any different now? The only reason he believed they had been kind until now was because they thought he human but when the truth got out, which was only a matter of time, he thought they'd react the same way they always did in regards to something that was new or different. By the time his wandering around had stopped, the sections of the base he was allowed into found him sitting in the back corner of a storage room used to store miscellaneous things like extra shoes and uniforms. There on one of the crates with his legs pulled up against his chest Daniel sat, wondering why someone would create something like... him, something that looked human but couldn't possibly be any farther from being human than he was.

Had he been created as a lab experiment, a project of curiousity? He doubted the answer was as simple as that, as advanced as he was there must have been a reason for him to be like this. There had to a purpose or reason for his existance, what that might be he had no clue, for that matter he didn't even know who he was. The information that was being crammed into his brain didn't seem to have any logical order. He was also curious what he was suppose to do after carrying out the any mission he might have, if any. It was already apparent that he was physical stronger than humans and he was quickly beginning to think his mental abilities were superior as well. This idea came to him after spending the last three minutes watching a moderately attractive young woman with dark hair. He had been looking at the serial numbers on the crates, checking a clipboard, and she would shake her head from time to time. All it took for Daniel was a single glance in order for him to memorize the number and position of every box in the room.

"You okay bro?" Quar asked, sitting down next to Daniel.

He looked over at Christopher for a moment taking note of the young man's bizarre form, looking like a scarecrow in fatigues. Despite his young age his eye were sunken in and drooping eyelids gave him a perpetually tired look with a long hooked nose, and an almost pointed chin. Along with hands and feet about two times too big for his body. He was quite the oddity, but also the first person since the discovery of what Daniel was that had actually came to see how he was doing, rather than marveling over what a friggin' wonder he was or being amazed about something or other related to his 'uniqueness'.

"Well let's see, turns out I'm some sort of freak of nature no one's ever seen before, I'm so freakin' special no one can stop talking about me. I still have no idea who I am, why I was created, what I was created for, yeah the freak of the week is doing peachy."

"I don't know about all that, but if it helps I know about how hard life can be."

"Oh yeah?" Daniel said, without sarcasim.

"Yeah." Quar said, raising his shirt to reveal a large but faded scar on his chest in an uneven burst pattern.

"Ouch, what happened?"

"Arm canon to the chest when I was four. Mavericks, real mavericks I mean, wiped out my whole family when I was a kid, shot me in the chest and left me for dead."

"Tell me Quar... Christopher, what started this war between the rebels and Neo Arcadia?"

"Depends, you mean this conflict or the Zero Wars?"

"Zero Wars?"

"Let's see, how did that go... Zero, one of the reploids of ancient legend was awakened from his slumber... destined to confront the ruler of Neo Arcadia a twisted copy of the once mighty Mega Man X. In a fierce battle the Demon X was felled by the blade of Zero ending the Neo Arcadian's reign of terror, yet the energy still did not flow, many reploid still feared for their very existence. The research of the benevolent Ciel in time found an abundant energy, an energy that flowed for all reploid kind, her research causing rejoice among all. Then there was Elpizo commander of the rebel forces, overcome by a desire for power the Dark Elf did he awaken, a dark magic that once threatened to destroy the very world itself. Once again Zero was called to battle to defend those who could not defend themselves, in a battle that shook the very heavens themselves Elpizo did fall, and flee the Dark Elf did, her destination known only to herself."

"Gee nice legend, who did the shine job?"

"I dunno that's just what I heard, then there was the whole Omega fiasco followed by Dr. Weil assuming power as the ruler of Neo Arc, it was just all sorts of nasty. Zero managed to finally bring it all to an end, no one knows what happened to him though he disappeared after the forth and final conflict, some say he died in the final fight with Dr. Weil, others think he survived going into seclusion, no one really knows."

"Okay thank for the history lesson, what about now?"

"This conflict? The dang Neo Arcs flipping out again over attacks by real mavericks and labeling anything not directly under their control as 'maverick'. In other words if it ain't them it's wrong, they stun humans taking them back to the city for 're-education', reploids and so on get shot on sight and hauled off to the scrap yards."

"Lovely."

"Yeah, well anyway the reason I came here was to tell you, you're not the only one who's got it tough around here so don't think you're alone yeah? If you ever need someone to talk to just give me a holler." Quar said, patting Daniel on the shoulder as he stood up to walk off.

Even though Daniel didn't say anything in response what Christopher had told him probably meant more than he had realized. At least there was one person in this place that didn't think he was a total freak. Regardless of his goofy appearance the young man seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. More than likely he would grow up to be a fine soldiers one of these days... once he grew into those hands and feet of his.


	3. Chapter III

System online...

Initiating boot sequence...

Central Processing Unit Accessed...

Standby...

With a small hum systems activated, sensors came online, mechanical servos flexed, all in unison as Geros looked up from where he sat within his new reploid body. After having his arm ripped off by that strange young man he met while hunting rebels Geros hadn't been able to get the thought of such a humiliating defeat out of his mind. How could that boy, a mere human, do something like that... no, there was more to it than that, even the strongest human was a gnat compared to a reploid.

"How are you feeling general, everything operating properly," an old man asked.

Blinking a few more times Geros looked over at the old man in the white lab coat knowing him well, the wrinkled face, the gray mustache and goatee, that bald head ringed by scruffy hair, Dr. Trebal Yewil, the lead scientist here in Neo Arcadia. Considered by many to be the best and brightest mind of his time Trebal was involved with the government on more levels than most knew, though considering his position it wasn't unexpected. Before answering he looked around the lab a few times to adjust his optical sensors, everything was the same as he had remembered when he had come here holding his own arm. This was the biggest lab in Neo Arcadia, there were computer workstations all over the lab, work tables, most of the heavy equipment such as the chassis transfer station he was sitting at, designed to install reploid CPUs into new bodies, lined the walls with large overhead lights shining down from above as scientists of all ages and genders went about their work.

"Yes doctor, thank you. So this is the new combat chassis you designed for me? Feels good." said Geros as he flexed a little more extending his consciousness into this new body.

"Mmm, oh yes," said Trebal smacking his lips a few times, "that chassis is designed for heavy combat just as you requested. Enhanced arm cannon, thicker armor plating, a reinforced substructure, enhanced reactor output. Mind if I ask what you need a body like this for sonny?"

"Sonny? I'm older than you doctor," said Geros.

"Yes yes, force of habit," said Trebal.

"I need the new chassis because of the rebels, last time I tracked them down I encountered something most unexpected, someone... or something that appeared human to my scanners, only he was every bit a physical match for my scout chassis," said Geros.

"Say what?" asked Trebal.

"That's what happened to the arm on my scout chassis, it got ripped off... by hand no less," grumbled Geros.

"Well that is most curious indeed. Anyway, let me know if you need any other minor adjustments to your new chassis general." asked Trebal.

"Of course doctor," said Geros.

Geros decided to cut their little conversation short as he already had a lot of work ahead of him, most of it regarding the rebels and finding a way to squash those annoying little insects. After thanking Dr. Yewil for his help he made his way through the crowd of scientists going about their work and out into the adjoining hall. There leaning against the wall was another, slightly shorter, reploid in smooth black armor, as Geros continued to walk the other reploid fell into step next to him.

"Feeling better general?" the other reploid asked.

"Much, what's the word Xerxes?" asked Geros.

"We've been doing our best to track rebel movement, by triangulating their recent activities we've narrowed the location of their base to within a nine sector radius about fifty miles south of here," said Xerxes.

"Nine sectors?" said Geros stopping as he looked at Xerxes, "with all the resources at your disposal a nine sector guess is the best you can give me? It could take weeks to search nine sectors, by which time they'd know we were looking for them and move. Unacceptable major, as head of intelligence services here in Neo I expect better than this when I hand you an assignment." Xerxes stiffened visibly at this reprimand, "I'm doing the best I can general, have you forgotten that a number of the rebel commanders are ex-Neo military. They know our procedures, the equipment we use, and how to mask themselves from our sensors." Geros stood there with his arms held behind his back looking at Xerxes as he thought about the situation. He was right though, most of the rebel commanders were ex-Neo military. Fighting an enemy was one thing, but fighting former allies was even harder because they knew how you operated and how to avoid detection. "How exactly did a human rip your arm off anyway?" Xerxes asked out of nowhere.

"Excuse me?" asked Geros looking over at him.

"Your arm, I heard you were carrying one of your arms when you came back and, that a human of all things, had ripped it off?" asked Xerxes.

"I don't know, probably a human with combat grade cybernetics," said Geros.

"But wouldn't your optical sensors have detected enhancements like that?" asked Xerxes.

"Yeah they would have that's what bothers me, my scout chassis is outfit with a state of the art sensor array, it should have detected any anomalies." said Geros.

"Do you think the rebels have found a way to cloak enhancements?" asked Geros.

"I doubt it, cloaks require an incredible amount of power to operate and in close proximity you can see optical distortions caused by the cloaking field. Still we're getting off the subject, we have to strike back at these rebels before they have the chance to regain their strength Xerxes, and I want better intel to work with," said Geros.

"Yes sir!" said Xerxes with a salute.

As Xerxes walked away Geros continued to his original destination, walking through the pristine marble halls of the Neo Arcadia Research Institute (NARI) he passed a number of scientists in their white lab coats as well as several civilians going about their business. Most of the hallways here had little more than a few lights on the wall and a painting here or there of some memorable individual who had once worked here as most of the scientist were so wrapped up in their work they paid little mind to aesthetic concerns, in fact it almost had a militant spartan look to it. Coming to a four way intersection in the hall Geros took a left moving to the end of a short hallways with a single gray metal door marked 'Communications Lab'. The door opened with a turn of the knob and several scientists at various workstations stopped to look at him as he entered, the communications lab was as well equipped as the main lab he had just come from. There were several tall screens mounted against the walls with an old white haired man in a lab coat standing with his hands on the rail of a semi-circle platform in the center of the room watching the others work.

"General Geros?" the old man asked turning to face him.

"Yes," said Geros plainly.

"Thought so, heard you'd requested a new combat chassis, what can I do for you?" the old man asked.

By pressing a small panel on the side of his head Geros opened a secondary memory storage compartment removing a chip before he closed the panel again, "Dr. Verdin, I encountered something during my last mission that I'm at a loss to explain, as you're considered one of the best in the field of communications I was hoping you could help me review the data in this memory chip and see if you could explain this." With a curious expression on his face Dr. Verdin took the memory from Geros and walked over to one of the empty work stations against the wall, plugging it into one of the data ports he punched a series of button on the station's keyboard bringing up the information in the chip. When a video stream started it showed the memories of Geros during the fight with Daniel, the screen jerked each time Geros was struck, then his voice was heard yelling as Daniel ripped his arm off. Somewhat self-conscious about such a humiliating defeat Geros punched several buttons on the keyboard himself when several of the scientists began looking at the screen. The display shifted from the large wall mounted monitor to a screen directly in front of the two of them.

"You see doctor, this is what I haven't been able to figure out, according to the sensor reading I gathered this boy was human, he shouldn't have been able to do this yet there it is plain as day. If he had cybernetic combat upgrades my sensors should have detected them, I was hoping you could help me figure this out," said Geros.

At first Dr. Verdin just nodded, muted the video stream, then replayed it a few times. After the third time he froze the image at the point where Daniel started to strain before ripping Geros' arm off. He studied the image for a moment then pointed to Daniel's arm, "That's organic, look you can see the sinew straining under the skin, if I replay the video frame by frame you can also see the muscles in his arms flexing as he strains to..." stopping for a moment he looked over at Geros, "uh... attack you. From what I can see his arm are organic, but you're right, this level of strength shouldn't be possible. Even during the failed chemical therapy experiments a few decades ago the soldiers never achieved a level of strength capable of this." Geros just studied the images while the doctor spoke running the data through his CPU over and over again trying to find some plausible explanation. "Hello, what's this?" asked Dr. Verdin. Looking over Geros saw what the doctor was talking about, "That's another thing I wanted to talk to you about, when I struck this boy with a stun blast from my arm cannon I detected a momentary spike in the EM frequency band, why?"

"That's a good question, this definitely requires further study. Do you mind if I keep this memory chip?" asked Dr. Verdin.

"Not at all doctor, but keep any information you find on a need to know basis and report your findings to me immediately," said Geros.

"Would you mind if I shared with Dr. Simmons, while I know more than the average person about biology he holds several degrees in biology, neural-science, and bio-chemistry. I think together with my knowledge of communications analysis we may just be able to come up with something," said Dr. Verdin.

"Of course, just play this one close to the vest doctor," said Geros.

Now that that was taken care of Geros had another less pleasant matter to deal with, he was due to give the president and secretary of defense a briefing about his progress on crushing the rebellion against Neo Arcadia. If ever there had been a situation to make a reploid sweat, were such possible, this would be it, as he walked down the halls of NARI he thought about the whole situation that had formed since he had personally lead the assault to crush the original rebel stronghold. At first he thought it was the beginning of the end for them, but in fact decapitating the alliance only made things worse, when the high command was captured and arrested their officers split into at least a dozen splinter cells that operated without much communication between each other. The whole situation had been like blowing up a pane of glass then trying to figure out where all the pieces had gone. Of the dozen splinter cells Geros had tracked down and arrested or killed all but one, one that was proving almost impossible to even find, let alone attack. Though NARI itself wasn't very spectacular on the inside, the outside was actually quite lovely, walking down the main steps of the building the general looked around at the carefully manicured lawn surrounded by a teen-foot wall of transparent tritanium, the central walkway leading to the front gate extended around a large bronze statue.

Each time Geros came here he stopped and looked at the statue to pay his respects. The figure was that of a short, portly man with thick hair and a long beard dressed in a lab coat, with one hand on his hip the other was pointed upward as if the he were pointing the way to the future. Geros actually smiled a little looking down at the plaque on the base of the statue.

Dr. Thomas Light

Father of Reploid Science

Visionary, Scientist, Humanitarian

Dr. Light, the father of modern reploid science indeed, without him Geros well knew that he wouldn't be standing here now looking up at this statue. Glancing down again he sighed slightly continuing down the walkway wondering what Dr. Light would think if he could see the world now, what had become of his legacy, his creations, killing one another so carelessly. In a way he was glad Dr. Light hadn't lived to see this. "He probably would have died of a broken heart," said Geros to himself. The human guards at the gate saluted Geros as he passed them, a gesture he returned more as a reflex than anything else, then headed for the black limo waiting outside. The driver exited as he approached opening the door for him, not even paying much attention to him Geros stepped inside taking a seat. There was a young human woman with blond hair, glasses, and a black business suit with a skirt waiting for him when he entered. With the seat situated opposite of him the young woman was facing him working with a small electronic data pad.

"So what do I get first, the bad news or the worse news?" asked Geros.

"In the last week the rebels have raided three of our convoys costing us about $105,000 in resources," said the young woman.

"So is that the bad or worse news?" asked Geros.

"The bad news, the worse news is that they broke into a search facility on sector 41-1 yesterday and managed to hack into the mainframe computer, they succeeded in stealing a lot of information about our current plans to locate them," said the young woman.

The last part was enough to cause Geros to punch the door next to him hard enough to knock it clear off the hinges and into the street while the limo was in motion. "Don't worry Carly the limo is mine," said Geros. Carly just sat there looking at the door in surprise for a moment at the display of anger from the general. The driver stopped a few feet down the road and the driver started to get out to see what had happened until Geros told him to keep driving. Minus one door the limo continued towards its intended destination as the general considered how he would explain his series of failure in finding the least rebel stronghold, the problem was he was at a loss regarding the current situation save for one possibility though he had no intention of discussing it with his personal assistant. "What about the troops, how's their training coming along?" asked Geros looking out the new window he had made.

"The humans soldier's training is moving along on schedule, we've only had two washouts so far, the reploid soldiers are adapting to their new programming, they should be ready for deployment soon," said Carly.

"Good, because I plan to annihilate those traitors to the last man when I find them," said Geros.

"You mean if you find them," said Carly.

Glaring at his assistant for a moment Geros arched a brow, "Don't make me fire you," he said.

"Well sir you tracked down eleven other splinter cells with little trouble, this last holdout seems to be giving you a lot of problems, you've been trying to track them for over a year now without success," said Carly.

"I don't need you to remind me of what I already know!" snapped Geros.

The limo came to a stop moments later in front of a large building made of white stone, with three stories above ground and two below it was topped with a dome supporting a large spire, which when he once asked, was an building design that had dominated the human capitol for centuries though the significance of such had long been forgotten. In the front there were a series of large stone stairs leading up to the main entrance that was covered by a massive roof supported by large marble pillars. The general's personal assistant remained in the limo while he walked up the stairs ignoring the other people around him as he passed, one of the biggest concerns on his mind was the fact that if he continued to fail in finding the rebels it's very possible he could be reassigned, or worse, lose his position and for a career military reploid such a disgrace would ruin him. The lobby of the building was made almost entirely of polished oak, which was a lavish waste of resources in his opinion considering how rare wood was these days. There were both humans and reploids going this way and that about their business in the climate controlled building, which was for human comfort. The room was large and expansive with floor to ceiling arched windows of painted glass, the crystal chandelier bolted to the ceiling was also gaudy in the general's opinion. Aside from the plastic potted plants placed at even intervals against the wall and some chairs for those waiting for some reason or another the room was empty of decor save for the reception's desk in the center of the far wall. A three sided desk with a single chair behind it the reploid receptionist was cheerfully answering phones, with two halls leading further into the building Geros paid her little mind as he headed to the right.

The building design changed to reflect a somewhat more cozy design with what the humans called a Victorian home style, a patterned carpet and an old style lighting system that involved the use of something called light bulbs. Why he had no idea, they were far less efficient than modern lighting. Considering how foul his mood had become since entering the capitol building most of the other humans and reploids got out of the general's way as he approached. He wasn't happy about the coming meeting and it showed, he had to stop at two different checkpoints at the beginning and end of the hallway giving the proper access code before stopping in front of a wooden door with a plaque on the front labeled 'meeting room'. Geros tried his best to subdue his foul mood and appear as polite as possible as he was about to address the two people who could fire his metallic butt. The president, an older man with gray hair was dressed in a blue business suit and sitting at the head of the table with several empty chairs when Geros entered with only the Secretary of Defense seated directly to his left, a dark-skinned man with a shaved head, mustache, and an army uniform with five stars on either shoulder. This made him a little nervous as these were the only two men who outranked him, despite the chassis he used for various missions he always had four stars displayed somewhere to show his rank.

"Mr. President, Mr. Secretary," said Geros.

"General Geros, please, have a seat," said the President motioning to a seat across from the Secretary. Geros nodded to the Secretary as he sat down, then turned his attention to the president of Neo Arcadia. "Thank you for joining us today Geros, do you know why we've called you here?" asked the President. Had the reploid possessed a heart it probably would have been in his throat by now as he nodded, "I have a fairly good idea, to discuss my progress in hunting down the last rebel splinter cell, correct?" asked Geros. The president who had been leaning back in his chair until now sat forward resting his elbows on the table, "To be more precise general it's your lack of progress." At this point the Secretary of Defense leaned forward as well, "General, we've given you considerable latitude in regards to the amount of resources you've allocated for this hunt in terms of both equipment and men over the last year. We haven't forgotten the fact that you've served in the military for almost a century now, but never the less an extended conflict with such a small faction of rebels could reflect badly on your record unless you're able to wrap this up quickly." With a small sigh Geros looked between them, "How quickly?" he asked. "One month general, you have one month to bring this conflict to an end or we'll be forced to find someone else to get the job done," said the President.

Leaning back in his chair Geros folded his hands in front of him trying his best to figure out where he went wrong with this last splinter cell. He had been expecting something along these lines but this crackdown had turned out to be harsher than he had initially expected. Being reassigned for failing to carry out orders would not only reflect very badly on his record, it would humiliate him personally. "Mr President, Mr. Secretary, I understand your position and your request, I would however ask that you give me an additional month to handle this matter because I believe I may be operating under extenuating circumstances," said Geros.

"What kind of circumstances?" asked the Secretary.

"I was hoping to handle this matter in a quiet fashion without bringing it to your attention until I had confirmed my suspicions, but I believe we may have a security leak within our ranks," said Geros.

"Do you have any proof to support this suspicion?" asked the Secretary.

"Hard evidence no, but stop and look at the situation sirs, I've successfully tracked down eleven of the twelve splinter factions with little difficulty, but now this single cell continues to elude me for over a year. Within the last two months I've made three attempts to assault their base but every time they're always a step ahead of me. This whole situation stinks of a security leak." said Geros.

"Do you have any idea where the leak may be?" asked the President.

"Yes, I don't want to point fingers right now but I believe it may be with intelligence services. The possibility of the leak being within my ranks is not impossible but less likely. You know how I operate, I assemble my men and dispatch orders about five minutes before they move out, keeps problems like this to a minimum." said Geros.

"You don't think Major Xerxes is involved in this do you?" asked the Secretary.

Shaking his head a little Geros leaned forward, "I wouldn't put anything beyond the realm of possibility but not only have I worked with Xerxes for over twenty years, he lost several close friends during the original assault on the rebel stronghold. This gave him a deep hatred for the rebels so he would be pretty far down on my list of suspects." The president and secretary exchanged glances for a moment before the secretary spoke up, "What do you think sir?" he asked looking to the president. Scratching his chin a little the president seemed to be considering the situation before he finally spoke his mind, "The general hasn't given us reason to doubt him in the past, nor has he ever suggested something on a whim. I think his past service warrants we take this suspicion seriously. Alright general, you have your extra month but not a day more. Is there anything else?"

"No sirs," said Geros.

"You're dismissed general," said the Secretary with a nod.

Geros returned the nod as he stood before leaving the room, to say he wasn't happy was an understatement. The entire situation had him so angry was was half temped to put his fist through the wall as he stormed down the hall, though he refrained from such as he didn't want to have the damages taken out of his pay credits. Exiting through the lobby the same way he had come in Geros made his way down the steps to where his limo and personal assistant were still waiting for him, in light of the incident earlier the driver didn't have to open the door for the general. His assistant was on a nano-phone with a finger to her ear when he took a seat in the limo.

"The general's back, I have to go," said Carly.

"Who was that?" asked Geros.

"Personal call sir, so what's the word?" asked Carly.

"The President and Secretary of Defense have my butt in a two month sling over this whole rebel situation. Call Major Xerxes and tell him I want him in my office five minutes ago," said Geros.

After telling the limo driver to take him to his office the general just stared out the side of the limo where the door used to be as they drove through the city. Neo Arcadia, he thought to himself, the pinnacle of human society, culture, civilization, and science, it had been almost a century since Geros had been first activated. He could remember the first time he had opened his eyes as he could every other thing he had seen, heard, touched, or smelled, it was one of the advantages of being a reploid, unlike humans their memory was perfect under optimal conditions. As they drove through the busy streets of the city they passed one park in particular, it was a large grassy area almost a mile in diameter with grills set out for people who wanted to have cook out, a track for others who wanted to run, even a small artificial lake for people who wanted to swim. Seeing the humans and their families, even a few reploids, relaxing and enjoying themselves it only steeled the general's determination to exterminate these rebels. They were nothing but a band of brigands and outlaws who wanted to destroy everything the people here in Neo Arcadia had work and fought for, during the Zero Wars countless humans and reploids were killed after being caught in the middle of pointless wars between those who wanted to take power for themselves.

Geros had no desire to rule or take power for himself, ever since he was first activated he had been designed to be a military reploid. Over the decades he had of course developed his own personality with separate interests, hobbies, and friends but he had remained true to his original purpose, to protect the people of Neo Arcadia from any threat foreign or domestic and it would be a cold day in hell before he let these rebels ruin everything he had spent his life working for and protecting. He was Geros, general of the Neo Arcadian armies and he would catch these rebels and make them pay for their crimes, not only for the sake of the people whom he had been charged to protect, but for the crimes they had committed against the government.

"I know that look, you're planning something drastic aren't you?" asked Carly.

Snapped from his thoughts by his assistant the general smirked a little looking over at her, "You know, of the eight personal assistants I've had you can read me better than anyone else. The thought had crossed my mind yes, but as you know I don't speak of battle plans to people without authorized clearance."

"Of course sir- hold on, I have an incoming call, it's Major Xerxes, I'll transfer the call sir," said Carly.

With a mental command Carly transferred the call from the nano-phone in her ear to the comm-system in the general's head. There was a momentary pause before the line connected and he heard the major's voice in his head. It was a private conversation that Geros kept off open comm-frequencies, even Carly couldn't hear them.

"It's Xerxes, what's the sit-rep?" asked Xerxes.

"The sit-rep is that I have two month to wrap up this rebel situation or I'm being reassigned. I want you in my office five minutes ago, there's something we need to discuss but I don't want to broadcast this even over an encrypted line," said Geros.

"Of course sir, I'll be fast enough to arrive before I get there," said Xerxes.


	4. Chapter IV

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One would think that with the situation at hand the massive military base of Neo Arcadia would be buzzing with activity but it wasn't, soldiers both human and reploid were milling about their daily actives. Geros was inside one of the main observation domes located on a metal support strut extending out from below two larger green domed facilities, as he walked to the center of the room he looked out around him. The floor was plain gray steel domed by transparent glasteel (glass/steel) that was reinforced by durotanium straps, the straps themselves however also contained a vast array of state of the art sensory equipment. "Computer, display topographical map of Neo Arcadia and the surrounding area for a one-hundred mile radius," said Geros. Instead of a small map appearing in front of him the entire dome shimmered like the surface of a pond displaying the requested map. Extending his hand above his head he brought it down in front of him in a wide arc rotating the map as it was designed to respond to specific gestures. Next he made a fist pulling it towards him causing the map to extend out from the wall until it was about five feet away from him.

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"Computer establish a secure up-link with terminal GPWS1, access file , authorization Geros 2283-6 alpha 9. Now transpose file over current display," said Geros.

Scrolling down the map display a single thin blue line quickly loaded the file Geros had accessed, now instead of a basic regional map he was looking as a highly classified map display showing the positions of several supply depots, military outposts, research facilities, and trade routes with outlaying cities under Neo Arcadian control, none of which was accessible to the general public. There were also several dozen red dots on the map with time indexes and detailed listing of the supplies lost due to rebel raids. Xerxes wasn't kidding, these guys were all over the map striking at seemingly random targets and locations, what bothered him the most was secure driving routes between sites were changed every three days for security purposes, never the less it didn't seem to curb the rebel raiding activities. "Computer, triangulate rebel strike activity with target time index and extrapolate most probable point of origin," said Geros. As instructed the computer displayed roughly twenty different locations over a nine sector radius. "This is stupid," sighed Geros, "there has to be a way to narrow the possible points of origin." Clocking his CPU at full speed Geros reviewed every possible means by which to narrow the target radius. "Come on Geros, think like a human, think crazy, be unpredictable," said Geros to himself.

That was the one human trait Geros had never been able to properly emulate, just when he thought he had calculated all possible variables and choices the humans would do something crazy or unpredictable to throw a monkey wrench into his plans. He had even tried downloading a chaos engine sub-routine to simulate the human propensity for chaos, but it was a beta version with an accuracy of only 14.21%. With little else to go on Geros called up a holographic display directly in front of him and began to systematically review all the files stored in the Neo Arcadian data banks both in the public directories as well as classified to see if there was anything that might be of use. Scanning through most of the directories he suddenly stopped on a file marked 'subterranean construction records'. The file had been buried in one of the deepest archives due to being over a century old, so far down someone likely wouldn't know it was there unless they specifically looked for it, or like Geros, scanned the entire directory... and it also gave him another idea.

"Computer access all available archived records regarding subterranean construction within the given nine sector radius, cross reference with archived geological shift and tectonic activity eliminating any structures likely to have been destroyed and overlay with current display." There was a seven second delay as the computer carried out the given instructions, then another line scrolled down across the map showing three structures, of the three only one had any extrapolated location markers on it, in fact it had four. "Gotcha!" said Geros, "computer, download current map display directly to my neural net, then erase all records of this session and deactivate, authorization Geros 2283-6 alpha 9."

With this new information downloaded directly into his neural net Geros walked out of the map room into the steel corridor beyond and for the first time since this whole rebellion started he actually felt excited. He was excited at the prospect of finally annihilating the last rebel splinter cell, but best of all he was the only one with a copy of this information eliminating any possibility of a security leak. Just for the sake of something to think about while he made his way back to the barracks the general replayed the indexed memory file of his meeting with Major Xerxes shortly after he left his meeting with the President and the Secretary of Defense.

Time Index: 13:53:02

"Major Xerxes reporting as ordered sir!" said Xerxes. In Geros' office Xerxes stood at attention having entered the room just a moment before. "Relax and have a seat Xerxes it's just us now," said Geros. As ordered Xerxes took a seat in the reinforced leather chair in front of the general's large wooden desk, he looked around the room for a moment, it was the same as it had been for the past thirty years since Geros had been promoted to his current position. There were a pair of plastic potted plants in each corner of the room behind, there were a few pictures on the wall displaying various points of importance throughout the his career, and an old metal filing cabinet to his right. Most of the decorations were for the sake of making his office more 'comfortable' in truth the he could have cared less about aesthetic concerns, the plants and pictures were just to make the human soldiers feel more comfortable, since for some odd reason bare rooms seemed to make them uneasy. The human obsession with comfort and bringing part of their home to work was something he doubted he would ever fully understand. "So why the rush for this meeting?" asked Xerxes.

"Because the president originally wanted this wrapped up within a month," said Geros.

"So how exactly did you wrangle another month out of him?" asked Xerxes.

With a slight sigh Geros rested his elbows on the desk in front of him leaning his chin on the back of his hands, "Because I think there's a security leak in intelligence services, now I know what you're going to-" Garos started to say.

"I agree," said Xerxes.

"What?" asked Geros blinking a few times.

"Well it's the only thing that makes sense," said Xerxes, "you've hunted down the other eleven cells with almost no effort, now this last one eludes you and stay one step ahead for over a year, someone's got to be tipping them off." Geros just arched a brow slightly, surprised that Xerxes would so readily agree with him, in the past the mere suggestion of such caused him to staunchly defend the people who worked under him. "Well it's the most plausible place to start, with the way you dispatch orders shortly before deployment the chance of the leak being under your command is a lot less likely than it is under mine. My employees have to share and co-ordinate information regularly, it makes leaks more likely," said Xerxes.

"Do you have any suspects?" asked Geros.

"That's just it, I don't. There's been no irregular activity, strange financial transactions, overly nervous people, nothing, which leads me to either suspect all of them or none of them," said Xerxes. Leaning back in his seat Geros though for a moment. "It's possible the person in question may not be doing this for money, they might be a 'patriot' who believes in the rebel cause," said Geros.

"I hope not, traitors like that are usually the hardest to find and the most violent when exposed," said Xerxes.

"Well I want the discovery of this possible leak to be your number one priority, the clock's ticking now, we need to bring this conflict to an end and fast, dismissed," said Geros.

With that the memory replay came to close as the general paused, stopping to look out a window for a moment he looked down at Neo Arcadia.

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This war coming to an end was actually something Geros was looking forward to, just because he was a military reploid and general didn't mean war and conflict were his entire life, in fact once this little disaster was over and done with he was looking forward to going home and finishing the restoration of his vintage hover-car. Continuing on his way the general made his way out of the main administration building towards the barracks, nestled directly behind his current location in the middle of a grassy field, or mostly grassy if you overlook the tire tracks and tank treads, the barracks towered high over the heads of the soldiers with tall cement A-frame braces holding up what looked like a long triangular metal tube almost a half mile in length. There were four of these building seated side by side, unlike the barracks of old those in Neo Arcadia were quite luxurious, the main level was designed to house the soldiers while the upper level served as a mess hall. While on base the soldiers ate almost as well as the general and even had a recreation area in a sub-level. As he approached Geros smirked to himself thinking about the privates in boot camp, their barracks were considerably less accommodating, they lived in single level barracks crammed two by two on bunk beds getting the screaming drill sergeant treatment most of the day. He stopped about one hundred yards short of the barracks activating his voice amplification unit, "General assembly, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Zeta squads fall in!"

These four barracks were only the tip of the iceberg for the Neo Arcadian military, but the soldiers here were the best foot soldiers they had, the four squads in question had been put through a training regimen personally designed by Geros. The general actually chuckled to himself a little as the inside of the barracks sounded like rocks rolling around in a box as the soldiers tripped over one another trying to get outside, even after eighty-five years as an officer it still amused him to see what the soldiers looked like when they fell in after an unannounced arrival. The door to all four barracks few open as the soldiers came dashing out forming rank and file, the general could have just as easily sent a holo-message for something like this, but on the other hand this was one of the perks of being a general, besides he preferred a hands on approach to giving order from a hilltop so to speak. There were a total of four-hundred soldiers assembled outside all standing at attention in four neat squares, ten by ten, though their numbers were smaller Geros preferred it this way, smaller groups were easier to train and it allowed him to give each soldier more individual attention to help them progress faster. Yes, even as a general Geros still personally trained select soldiers, he had all the needed programming to act as a drill sergeant and when his busy schedule allowed he did just that. What a comical bunch they were right now, some soldiers in their underwear, one with shaving cream on his face, a few still drowsy from being woken up, it was really quite amusing.

"Right, I've called you here today because we are about to embark on what I believe will be the final assault against the rebel forces that have opposed us for so long now, and that is also why I have assembled you here today. At one point or another in your careers I have overseen and personally trained each and every one of you, you are the best ground pounders the Neo Arcadian military has to offer and those services are about to be put to the test. In exactly one hour we will deploy to strike the final blow in this war and bring these rebels to an end once and for all and I expect each and every one of you to give one-hundred and ten percent in this. It is very likely that many of you will not return home today, you will fall of the field of battle never to rise again, but know that your sacrifice will not be in vein. It is through your selfless service to Neo Arcadia and the people you have sworn to protect that we will be able to bring this conflict to an end once and for all restoring peace and prosperity to our great society."

Throughout his career Geros had given speeches similar to this a hundred times over to more soldiers than most could readily count and he hated doing it every single time. He was a warrior, a leader, and a soldier, but that didn't mean he wasn't without compassion, in fact there were several soldiers here he was quite fond of though he'd never let them know that. Each time he lost someone under his commander he took that soldier's personnel file and burned it into his permanent memory so he would never forget them, so far there were two-thousand, six-hundred, and seventy-three, and he knew after today that number would grow.

"I also want you to be aware, there is a new threat within the rebellion," extending his hand Geros slowly uncurled his fingers activating a palm mounted holo-projector showing an image of Daniel's head, the semi-transparent image rotated slowly. "Should you encounter this young man during our next mission be aware that he is exceptionally dangerous, do not, I repeat, do not attempt to engage him in close quarter combat. If you do encounter this young man you are to immediate radio his position to me." The image flickered slightly as Geros closed his hand deactivating the projector, then just before turning to leave he dismissed to soldiers allowing them to get get ready for deployment, now that he had a plan of action it was time to talk strategy and keep this little operation as in-house as possible. Activating his internal communication relay he contacted Major Xerxes.

"Geros to Xerxes," said Geros. The line was silent for a moment before he got a reply, "Xerxes here," said Xerxes.

"Meet me in the main the main observation dome in the administration building, we're deploying within the hour," said Geros.

"You've found something?" asked Xerxes.

"Just meet me in the observation dome, we'll discuss things there," said Geros.

"Roger, heading there now," said Xerxes.

With the vital information Geros had gathered during his first trip to the observation dome along with the suspicion of a security leak he was loathe to discuss anything over open comm frequencies. This was likely the best chance he'd have to catch these rebels and bring this conflict to an end so he was being exceptionally careful every step of the way to keep this information from falling into the wrong hands. The trip back to the observation dome was a short one in which Geros made a mental note to schedule things better so he didn't have to backtrack like this in the future... he should have talked with Xerxes before preparing the troops for deployment. Upon entering the observation some he saw the sleek black reploid standing there in the middle of the room waiting for him, without saying anything he walked up next to him mentally interfacing with the computer via his neural transceiver, then loaded the regional map, setting the display parameters to project directly in front of them, along with the overlay displaying the time indexed rebel attacks and the computer's attempts to extrapolate a point of origin for the attacks over the nine sector radius.

"I've seen this already, in fact I made the same calculations in this very dome myself, what's the point of this?" asked Xerxes.

"Patients Major, patients," said Geros. Next he loaded the archived construction records along with the geological shift and tectonic activity overlay he had transposed over the map earlier, "What do you think now?" asked Geros.

"Now that's interesting indeed, where did you find this information?" asked Xerxes.

"By cross referencing all archived subterranean construction records for the region with geological shift and tectonic activity information, as you can see of the three remaining bases, this one," said Geros pointing to the base in the center of the map, "is not only the only location to have a location marker on it, as you can see there are four. I'd bet a cycle of pay credits that's where those cowards are hiding." Xerxes studied the map a little more before nodding in agreement, "I'll have to remember this little trick for the next time we hunt someone hiding underground, what approach to you have in mind?

"As you can see this facility contains two exit to the north and south, here, and here. From what your intelligence reports have told me the rebels possess mostly transports and other non-combat vehicles meaning most of them will try to evac to the south away from Neo. I want you to deploy several scout units to reconnoiter the area and set-up automated anti-personnel and anti-vehicle turrets across the northern perimeter at five click intervals over a one mile area," said Geros pointing to various areas on the map.

"Do you think they have any sensor outposts in the other two structures?" asked Xerxes.

"Probably, so be sure to stay out of sensor range. I'll be taking Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Zeta squads and transmitting to the city of Vector to the south, from there I'll have Gamma and Zeta deploy to flanking positions just outside sensor range to the east and west to cut off any possible escape route, then I'm personally going to lead Alpha and Beta squads north from Vector and squash these losers once and for all," said Geros.

"Do you think the turrets will be enough if they decide to run towards Neo?" asked Xerxes.

"They might they might not, that's why I want you to include snipers in your recon units, I'm going to deploy Gamma and Zeta far enough north so that, in the event they do break north, they can intercept them. Now, let's move out," said Geros.


	5. Chapter V

With the mid-day sun beating down from above Daniel sat outside on a boulder several yards from the entrance to the rebel base, at first they weren't too eager to allow him outside out of concern he might give away their location. When he proved to them that his visual and audio acuity were equal to the sensors they were using in the base they relented. More than anything Daniel just wanted some time to himself to think things over and consider the situation he was dealing with, even two days after his arrival here he was no closer to discovering any of the truths about himself. The information that was downloading into his mind was incredible in the broad areas that it covered, geography, geology, ecology, biology, studies of flora and fauna, every language known to man both written and spoken, reploid binary, exobiology, the list went on and on. If things kept going at this rate he'd be a walking encyclopedia of information on just about any topic one could think of. Sitting there in the middle of a blasted wasteland covered in faded battle scars Daniel casually pondered the mysteries of life, the rebels had been kind enough to give him some time to sort things out but considering his 'unique' nature he had no doubt they wanted to sway him to their cause but he wasn't too crazy about the idea. The fact of the matter was that he wasn't a rebel or a Neo Arcadian, he was a stranger in a strange world caught between two opposing forces, truth was he could care less if they blasted one another to pieces, so long as he was left alone and allowed to investigate the mysteries of his origin.

Even a century after he was created Dr. Gains essentially said the technology used to create him was beyond anything they were able to recreate even today. He was capable of everything a human was, and in time once his systems sorted themselves out, possibly everything a reploid was capable of as well. It occurred to Daniel while he was sitting there that it was very possible that he was the most advanced form of life on Earth, the question of why was still nagging the crap out of him. The most logical choice was to return to Zergos and the stasis pod he woke up in investigate the site more carefully and see if there was anything there that might give him a clue. He had looked around a little when he initially woke up, but he was so confused and disoriented at the time he had no clue what to look for, now that he'd had time to at least put together a general plan a second visit might not be such a bad idea. Now probably wasn't the best time though considering the friction between the rebels and the Neo Arcadians though, it wasn't likely the rebels would let him take a truck and just go driving around the countryside... maybe he could work something out with them. Just then the door to the base opened behind Daniel and he could hear someone walking towards him, judging from the force behind the footfalls he knew it was Falk, he was the heaviest person in the rebellion after all. Dressed in a plain black, short-sleeved shirt with camouflage cargo pants and boots, Falk was, at a guess, in his mid to late twenties.

"Penny for your thoughts kid?" asked Falk walking up beside him.

"Just the usual, who am I, why am I, who created me, that sort of stuff," said Daniel.

"What are you," said Falk.

"Yeah that too. Does it bother you that I'm different?" asked Daniel. Falk looked down at him for a moment, then when Daniel looked up at him they just stared at one another.

"Should it?" asked Falk.

"I would hope not, but what I do know about humanity from the historical files crammed into my brain they have a tendency to fear, hate, and attack what they don't understand," said Daniel.

"That was true a long time ago, even the first reploids faced that fear, but now they've become so much a part of society most people can't imagine life without them. People haven't completely overcome their fear of the unknown but they are a lot more open minded than they once were," said Falk.

Taking in a deep breath as Falk sat down beside him Daniel looks out across the barren plain one more time, pulling his legs up against his chest as he sat on the boulder resting his head on his knees, "So what's your story Falk, why are you fighting the Arcadians?" asked Daniel. With a subtle side glance in Daniel's direction Falk looked back out over the plain calmly, "They stopped the Neo Arcs from dragging me off for 're-education'. I used to live in a small independent village about two hundred miles southwest of here repairing hover car transmissions. Had a nice little place on the outskirts of the village, I was just trying to make an honest living taking things day by day you know? Then the Neo Arcs came claiming they were annexing our village in the interest of 'Continued Neo Arcadian Security', they fired everyone in the local government, replaced them with their puppets, then anyone who objected was hauled off for re-education. The rebels intercepted the transport I was on and the rest is pretty much history."

"If I'm not being too personal, why are you so big? I mean as a rebel I'd imagine you get a lot of exercise," said Daniel. Falk looked over at him with an odd expression at that question and Daniel wasn't sure if he was going to answer him or punch him, then to Daniel's surprise he busted out laughing, "I'm not obese if that's what you mean, sure I could stand to loose a little weight, but it's mostly muscle, well except for this," said Falk patting his stomach. "The rebels want me to join their cause don't they?" asked Daniel.

"I wouldn't doubt it, Gains is still locked in his lab going over those scans he took of you, plus if what I heard about you was true there's no doubt you'd be a real trump card," said Falk.

"Oh really, and what have you heard about me?" asked Daniel.

"That you're crazy strong for one thing, heard you picked up an engine block by hand the other day," said Falk.

Daniel thought for a moment about that, he had been helping the soldiers arrange some newly 'acquired' supplies and just picked an old engine block in the store room up like someone else might pick up a pen or a coffee cup. It wasn't until he saw the expression on the faces of the people around him that he realized what he had done, none of them said anything directly to him instead whispering to one another quietly. "Could you show me, if I'm not being too personal that is," asked Falk. That actually got a bit of a smirk out of Daniel, he had considered hefting Falk off the ground with one hand but due to his weight that might have injured him. The only other thing he could think of was to stand up, then turning to face the rock he had been sitting on moments ago he drew his fist back and lanced his arm forward as hard as he could. The boulder made a loud crunch as dust and bits of debris flew in every direction as it split clean in two causing Falk to shield his face with his arm, when the dust had settled he held his hand out showing him that he hadn't even skinned his knuckles. "Holy crap that's amazing," said Falk. Flexing his hand a few times Daniel looked at it noting that there wasn't the slightest bit of damage save for a minor ache in his knuckles. "We should probably go back in, don't want the others to start getting paranoid," said Daniel.

"You know I'm a bit jealous now," said Falk.

"Oh?" asked Daniel.

The two stopped at a certain point seemingly in the middle of nowhere, then Falk took a small black metal box from his belt, pointing it at the ground he pressed a small button causing a door to open directly in front of them leading down into the base, "Yeah, until you showed up I was generally considered the strongest guy here," said Falk. Daniel arched a brow slightly as the two walked inside, they both stopped for a moment to let Falk's eyes adjust to the lower levels of light, Daniel's eyes adjust .000254 seconds after the level of lighting changed. "I'm not exactly sure you could call me a 'guy' as it were," said Daniel.

"Half-human, half-reploid, who cares? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, then in my book it's a duck," said Falk.

Despite the rather strange animal reference Daniel understood what Falk meant and he actually cheered up a little on the inside, this was the second person who didn't seem to be overly bothered by what he was, and the less they were bothered by it, the less he seemed to be bothered by it as well. When the pair reached the first intersection, a four-way, Falk excused himself stating he had other duties to attend to, after they parted company Daniel stood there for a moment trying to think of something to do. That was one thing that seemed to annoy him considerably, he had too much free time on his hands, being that he wasn't technically a rebel what duties he did tend to around here was on a voluntary basis. For the moment he headed in the opposite direction of Falk, down the left hall, back towards his quarters where he planned to continue reading through the main computer's database, which in reality meant he was going to download more files and review them. Earlier that morning a file called 'wetware command interface' had loaded which allowed him to interface with machinery simply by touching a port or other interface device as his skin, anywhere on his body, could now form a command interface.

On his way back to his quarters he noticed some of the people in the base were still giving him odd expressions, but they seemed more curious than scared which given the circumstances, was entirely understandable. Arriving at his room a few minutes later Daniel pressed a button on the control panel next to the door opening them with a small 'whish', upon entering his room he noticed a young woman with short blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, in camouflage cargo pants with a matching open front vest and dark green shirt and black boots mopping the floor. She plunged the mop into the wheel mounted bucket next to her continuing her routine seemingly oblivious of Daniel's presence. "Who are you?" asked Daniel. When he spoke she acknowledged him, stopping what she was doing and looking up with a smile, "Good morning sir, my name is Kalista," said Kalista. She then looked back to the floor continuing her mopping. Her response was rather strange to Daniel, it was friendly, but short, to the point, and though it was obvious what she was doing she offered no explanation as to why she was in his room, nor did she even bother to ask his name. He tilted his head to the side slightly trying to figure her out a little more, "What are you doing in my room?" asked Daniel. Once again she stopped mopping and looked up at him with a smile, "I'm mopping the floor sir," said Kalista.

When she went back to mopping a second time Daniel's head actually twitched slightly almost like a reploid when they devote most of their CPU to figuring something out. "Stop mopping," said Daniel. Kalista stopped mopping alright, she literally froze in place like a statue hunched over with the mop in her hand. "Continue mopping," said Daniel. Just like that Kalista continued mopping as if nothing had ever happened... she was a reploid Daniel thought to himself, but she was unlike any other reploid he had seen. If you considered the data files in his brain along with the reploids he had seen here at the base he had actually seen a lot of reploids but none of them like this... she looked human, down to skin that had freckles. "Kalista, why don't you have armor like other reploids?" asked Daniel. "It was replaced," said Kalista. She stopped only briefly to answer him like she had before, though when she looked away to continue mopping Daniel grabbed the mop handle causing her to stop and look at him. "Are you alight?" asked Daniel.

"Yes, all of my systems are operating within normal parameters," said Kalista.

Letting go of the mop handle Daniel walked over to his bunk in the corner of the room taking a seat and watching Kalista as she mopped. He was curious as to why someone would go to such lengths to make a reploid look human, as far as he knew the ascetic differences weren't just tactical they also helped people, and reploids, to easily tell one another apart... odd. "Kalista, what exactly do you do here?" asked Daniel. In her usual fashion she stopped her mopping and turned towards Daniel to address him, "I've been programmed to maintain the sanitary conditions here on the base as well as serve the soldiers," said Kalista.

"Serve the soldiers?" asked Daniel.

"Yes sir, would you like me to serve you?" asked Kalista.

"Uh... yes?" said Daniel.

He watched curiously as Kalista leaned the mop handle against the wall then began to walk over to him, she stooped down on one knee but when she reached out trying to undo his belt buckle Daniel about plastered himself to the wall behind behind his bunk trying to get away from her, "Whoa! What are you doing?" exclaimed Daniel.

"You said you wanted me to serve you," said Kalista.

"Well I was expecting something like a shoulder massage or a back rub, not... that," said Daniel.

"Would you like a shoulder massage sir?" asked Kalista.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind that, just not... the other," said Daniel.

Somewhat cautiously Daniel removed himself from the wall sitting on the edge of the bed and positioning himself so Kalista could massage his shoulders, then removed his shoulder pad and sweater. The reploid took a seat behind Daniel on the bunk and carefully placing her hands on his bare shoulders she began to gently massage the muscle, rubbing, pressing, and pulling with the expertise of a professional masseuse. He also noticed that her hands were actually warm to the touch, another interesting little quirk to take note of. The sensation of the massage was odd to Daniel in the beginning, although as Kalista continued to move her hands up and down his shoulders and lower neck he noticed that his muscles were starting to relax, the tension was fading from them and within a matter of minutes he let his head tilt forward. He was surprised how relaxing an experience this was, although he knew what a massage was by definition thanks to the dictionary crammed into his brain it was totally different to 'feel' it. It took a moment for his brain to assimilate the information properly before he realized that he was actually enjoying this considering this was the first time he had enjoyed something physically.

With a start Daniel looked around, jerking this way and that few times he looked around, Kalista was gone, there was an unexplained gap in his memory, and he felt sluggish... what... how... The entire sensation left Daniel confused, then slowly he thought about the situation reviewing the files in his mind regarding human physiology... he had fallen asleep? How had that happened? He had no recollection of even falling asleep, although a check of his internal chronometer indicated he had only been unconscious for 16.4 minutes. That was definitely a strange experience, while he didn't need sleep it seemed he was capable of sleeping, up until now he just had no reason to do so. As he tried to sift through the internal working of his body during the 16.4 minutes he was asleep it found that while he could access files regarding system operations that was kept by his brain there was no active memory... although there were some vaguely disjointed images, mostly about his fight with Geros though the images seemed to shift and change without any logical order or organization... a dream maybe? The part that really messed with him was that none of his internal diagnostic processes could analyze the dream, the memories were there, albeit vaguely, but there was no file heading, extension, or any other identifying markings, it was as if they existed yet at the same time didn't. How did other people adapt to such a disorienting process like sleep, even look forward to it?

It took him a moment to shake off the last of the sluggishness he was feeling, though it wasn't actually fatigue in the term most people might understand, while he was asleep the internal system files indicated that with the suspension of active cognitive processes his subconscious, and by extension file download speed, had accelerated by three-hundred percent. The sluggishness was in fact his mind having to allocate memory for active cognitive functions, then he stretched slightly noticing that his muscles had contracted when he was asleep. It would seem there was more to Daniel's human side than he had first realized, while every human function, such as sleep, wasn't necessary it seemed he was capable of them. Speaking of unnecessary functions there was one he had actually been considering lately, eating. Not only was it needed for humans, the soldiers seemed to enjoy it considerably depending on what was being served at the time. While unraveling the origins of his creation was his highest priority at the moment if he was going to learn about himself he needed to do things, to experience life from both ends of the spectrum... now what to do though, download more files from the mainframe, or go get something to eat. He eventually decided eating would likely be more interesting as it was something he had never done before. When he stopped and thought about it, he wasn't sure if he actually needed to eat, he knew humans suffered losses in strength and efficiency if they didn't eat three times a day and their biological functions caused something called hunger pains if they didn't eat regularly. Having never been 'hungry' he hadn't noticed any unusual changes in his systems since he had woken up though he'd be the first to admit he didn't actually know a lot about himself.

So it was decided, he would go to the mess hall and trying eating, the reading could wait, it was close to lunch time anyway. Daniel wasn't the only one with his idea either, most of the rebels were heading towards the mess hall as well when he stepped out of his room, moving down the hall he followed the flow of civilian and military personnel keeping to himself as he went. There were several people he noticed holding hands, men and women who appeared to be couples he imagined. Regardless of the ever increasing mountain of data he had pouring into his brain Daniel had already come to realize that data files were in fact just the tip of the iceberg when it came to humans, they were so complex in their interactions and socializing that simply reading a file only gave someone a place to start, little more. His neural net had no information regarding the dynamics of human peer bonding, so he didn't know anything about how to form relationships with other people beyond talking with them. Upon entering the mess hall he saw that it was little more than a large room with a glass protected serving counter in the back and a series of empty crates with chairs arranged in hap-hazard manner, the only organization to the room was an aisle down the middle so people to make their way to the serving counter. There was a large single file line forming down the middle of the aisle so Daniel stood there waiting patiently, the line moved fairly quickly as the five soldiers serving the food kept things flowing steadily. Finally approaching the counter himself Daniel took a metal tray and utensils from the back of the counter placing it on the metal tube railing in front of him and sliding it along like the others. He noticed that for rebels they sure seemed to eat well, there were a few things he recognized from memory such as green beans, whole kernel corn, carrots, but there were also a number of things he didn't recognize either. "Pick your poison," said one of the servers.

"Excuse me?" asked Daniel. Looking up at the man he noticed that despite how well he did his job he didn't seem to be all that excited about it. "Whaddaya wanna eat kid?" said the server.

"I don't know, I've never eaten before," said Daniel. At this the server just looked at him like he had grown a second head, but didn't say anything. "What is that?" asked Daniel pointing to one of the pans. "Barbequed chicken," said the server. Daniel shook his head a little preferring not to eat something that used to be alive, he knew humans could survive without eating meat so he settled for a helping of carrots, corn, and green beans. The thought of consuming something that had been killed and butchered wasn't something he found to be very appealing so with tray in hand Daniel found an empty table, and sat down placing his his tray in front of him. It didn't take a genius to figure out how to use a fork, hold and stab. Picking up the his fork he lanced a few carrots then put the fork in his mouth, slid it out between his lips and began to chew carefully. The texture of the carrots was soft and chewy but they didn't seem to have much taste, next he tried the corn scooping the kernels up with his fork. They had an odd texture when you first bite down breaking the skin, though he noticed the corn had a lot more water stored inside of it than the carrots did, he didn't much care for the taste, in fact he realized his face had contorted slightly in response to a flavor he didn't much care for.

Having written the corn off after one bite he was about to shovel some green beans into his mouth when someone sat down at the table directly across from him placing a tray on the crate. Looking up Daniel saw a woman sitting in front of him, she looked to be in her early twenties with long wavy brown hair, full lips, and a slender nose, she was dressed in a standard military uniform with cargo pants, boots, and a short sleeved shirt, her chest was slightly larger than average from what Daniel calculated, about 36C for so, but what caught his attention the most were her eyes. Her eyes were green, a bright jade green and so... piercing, caught by her eyes he just sat there for a moment looking at her as he held the fork with his mouth open. "Well that's new, I've never had a guy outright gawk at me like that," said the woman. Somewhat embarrassed now Daniel closed his mouth with an small clack and sat up, "My apologies miss, you just have very... lovely eyes," said Daniel. He wasn't sure if she was considered attractive by human standards but he thought she was, and her eyes were captivating. "Please, call me Jen, you're Daniel right?" asked the young woman.

"Yes, it would seem my reputation has preceded me yet again," said Daniel.

Jen picked up her fork and began eating her meal which consisted of barbequed chicken, green beans, and something he recognized as a muffin, "So why don't you tell me something about yourself," said Jen after swallowing her food. It was becoming something of a habit for Daniel to raise a brow aloft when he was confronted by something he wasn't quite sure how to handle, and this was one of those somethings so he arch a brow accordingly. "Something is a rather broad term, could you possibly be a little more specific?" asked Daniel.

"Um, where are you from?" asked Jen.

"A stasis pod in the ruins of Zergos," said Daniel before shoving the forkful of green beans into his mouth. "I meant before that," said Jen. For a moment Daniel just looked at her, he still wasn't sure why this young woman had struck up a conversation with him out of the blue, "I have no memories prior to waking up in the stasis pod," said Daniel.

"Nothing?" asked Jen.

"Nothing, it was like waking up for the first time," said Daniel.

"Oh wow, that must have been pretty wild to just wake up like that, must be pretty weird to not know where you came from and stuff," said Jen. The only response Daniel gave was to shrug his shoulders slightly and shovel more food into his, then it occurred to him it was probably polite to ask her something since she was talking to him, "So uh, Jen, is that short for Jennifer?" asked Daniel.

"Jennaviv actually, it was my great grandmother's name on my father's side," said Jen.

She began to say something else when red klaxon lights began to flash bringing a halt to all activity in the mess hall as everyone looked up for a moment, then took off running. "What's going on?" asked Daniel. Jen dropped her fork stopping just long enough to say, "Code red, trouble," then took off running with everyone else. Not really knowing what else to do Daniel followed the soldiers out into the corridor, they all seemed to be moving in a single direction so he fell in step with a small group himself, dashing through a few halls they eventually stopped at the armory where Relix and another soldier were quickly handing out pistols and rifles to the crowd in the hall. The huddled mass of soldiers moved quickly pushing Daniel towards the door at a steady until Relix, almost in a reflex manner handed him a rifle, though when he saw who it was he stopped briefly looking at Daniel oddly. "What's going on?" asked Daniel.

"Neo Arcs and they're headed this way, didn't think you'd be getting involved in this so soon," said Relix.

"Doesn't look like I have much of a choice, the Neo Arcs don't seem very particular about who they shoot at," said Daniel.

With a nod Relix slapped Daniel on the shoulder sending him on his way down the hall, dashing after the rest of the soldiers he ran down the hall in step with the others, the sound of all the boots hitting the metal floor of the hallway made it sound as though there was a stampede in progress. The hall ended abruptly opening up into the motor pool where there were at least two dozen soldiers trying not to get in the way of the panicked civilians as they loaded the trucks as fast as possible to get the hell out of dodge. Daniel wasn't sure how well the rebels would stand up in a direct fight like this, the soldiers looked more like a group of ragtag militiamen than professionals, and he had no doubt the Neo Arc soldiers were quite the professionals. Most of them didn't even have full body armor, and those that did looked like they had salvaged what they possessed from several different sources, there were even a few younger men and women that didn't have any armor at all, they were dressed in fatigues and holding rifles, that was it. There was a young Hispanic woman in an officer's uniform up front making some sort of speech, but Daniel wasn't even paying her any attention, right now he was inspecting his rifle. It was an old particle rifle that had definitely seem better days, aside from the dings and scratches the finish was faded, and he could tell it had been rebuilt several time. The long three foot weapon had also been stripped of most of the parts it didn't need to function, probably to fix other weapons, it was little more than a pair of extended barrels with the receiver, upper assembly, shoulder stock, and fairly crude sights. On the bright side he had two clips and particle rifles normally held fifty to seventy-five shots per clip. From the files stored in his head Daniel knew that aside from some minor accessories such as multi-optic sights, under slung plasma launchers, and collapsible should stocks the core design had remained mostly unchanged for almost seven decades and were known for their reliability.

Just as he cycled the first energy charge into the chamber the soldiers in front of Daniel began to move towards the exit and up the ramp three abreast in neat rank and file lines. Following after them Daniel was the last to exit the base. There was almost no cover outside save for a few boulders and other rocky outcrops, most of the soldiers tried to squeeze as many people as possible behind the limited cover. Along with the officer and three other soldiers he remained near the entrance until the woman asked one of them for a situation report, one of the soldiers began to take out a pair of binoculars when Daniel jumped up on a small boulder and looked down range magnifying his vision.

i1114(dot)i1114(dot)


	6. Chapter VI

Although Xerxes was good at his job the one thing he missed after transferring to covert ops was being in the field, the amount of time he spent away from the office was pitiful compared to his days as an advance recon scout. He wasn't all that crazy about being a desk jockey, but for the sake of his career he took the job as it was a considerable promotion for him. Unlike Geros, Xerxes didn't care much for decorations which left his office with almost nothing save for a few metal filing cabinets behind his desk, and a pair of storage lockers across the room, and a multipurpose communications device that looked a lot like an old copy machine opposite the door to his right. The major was currently seated at his desk with a holographic computer interface that was built into the desk displaying a wide variety of information at blinding speed. Unlike humans who typed with their hands and processed information considerably slower the major was connected directly to Neo Arcadia's mainframe via an encrypted wireless connection scanning for any signs of the suspected information leak.

The first place he started was with his own department, he scanned all transmissions during non-peak hours for suspicious activity, the only thing he found were several personal calls by one of his operatives to a girlfriend in the city even though it was against protocol to use official channels for private business. Making a note to reprimand the young officer he continued with his search. Most of the transmissions were internal communications over secured relays containing information that was being coordinated by his people before it ended up on his desk, finding nothing in his own department he moved on thinking if someone was leaking information, he doubted they were dumb enough to do it from an office where their actions could be heavily monitored. Next he expanded his search to include the entire administration building, here he encountered a number of access blocks, because he only had TS-3 code clearance there were certain messages, such as those from the president and his staff or anyone above the rank of Lt. Colonel that he couldn't access, but beyond that everything was at his disposal. If all else failed he'd go to Geros and talk it over with him, after all the general's clearance was superseded only by the president, but he preferred to save that request for last and deal with this himself if possible.

The only reason he was allowed to access classified information in this manner was because he was not only part of the internal security bureau, but he also deleted all the messages that were unrelated and had to undergo weekly memory scans to ensure that he hadn't leaked, stored, or otherwise retained any information he wasn't entitled to. He wasn't to crazy about people poking around in his CPU but he knew about all of the security measures when he accepted the promotion so he couldn't complain. Sorting through all of the communications for the administration building alone for the past month was a job in in itself, as one of the central hubs of government business the building got almost as many calls per days as those that flew across the civilian grid.

He started by scanning the unsecured lines used by people calling into the building for general business matters, when nothing appeared out of the ordinary there he moved on to the encoded messages that his TS-3 clearance would grant him access to, the process here was slower because he had to decrypt each massage and some of them, from the more paranoid officers, contained a considerable amount of encryption. The fact that he had to spend almost half an hour cracking a non-military encryption code added to one message was a real pain. He also knew later on that he'd likely have to answer questions from the president about the level of intrusion into classified communications, but as he was operating under orders directly from Geros he wasn't too worried. When he completed the scan of communications in the administration building he was no closer to finding a possible mole than he was when he started so now he had the unenviable task of scanning the entire civilian grid that covered not only the entire city itself, but several smaller towns surrounding Neo Arcadia... this search could take days even at maximum processing speed. Instead of sorting the civilian grids into sectors for systematic scans he decided to scan the communications from the surrounding cities, if a mole had used one of the cities as a relay point for leaking information it would be easier to detect than sorting through the enormous amounts of information in Neo Arcadia's data banks, if he found anything he could just trace it back to the source.

He also hooked his CPU directly into the city's master computer slaving a large portion of the unused processing power to speed up the search. Accessing the servers for two of the surrounding cities he began searching through the communication logs, about a half-hour later, still CPU deep in files, his internal communicator activated indicating he had a call from Neo Arcadia's computer services division. It was the computer geeks, no doubt they noticed his allocation of such a large amount of the main frame's processing power and were calling to ask why, instead of opening the line he just sent them a text message stating it was a matter of internal security he wasn't at liberty to discuss before terminating the call. The search of the the surrounding towns was going smoothly, there were a few thousand communications to various residences and establishments outside of Neo Arc over the last month, but a careful scan revealed nothing out of the ordinary, mostly personal calls and teleconferenced business meetings. "I'm really starting to hate covert ops," Xerxes said to himself. As he continued scanning he noticed a .00067 second discrepancy in the communication logs across the entire grid fifteen days ago at 02:36 hours, he was about to disregard it, as it wasn't uncommon for minor glitches to occur when the grid allocated more memory during peak hours, when he noticed a single transmission from Neo Arcadia that glitched for .00069 seconds. Accessing the transmission he started with a basic scan, someone had brought up a map of the city from a public terminal requesting directions to the town of Tesch, that didn't seem out of the ordinary so he performed a deep scan of the .00002 discrepancy. There he found a secondary transmission that rerouted itself through a maintenance sub-processor so well masked that he would have missed it if it wasn't for his cycling buffers that double checked all diagnostic information. "Hello, what do we have here?" Xerxes said.

Before attempting to read the message he simply traced the transmission's origin point to a communications kiosk in one of the subway stations, when he tried to access the data from the security cameras monitoring the subway he found an error message stating the cameras had gone offline due to an unspecified malfunction that took almost half an hour to correct. "How convenient," Xerxes grumbled. When Xerxes accessed the transmission he found that it was encrypted and his TS-3 code clearance wouldn't unlock the encryption which told him it wasn't of military origin. "How amusing, someone thinks they can hide fr... you have got to be kidding me, 256 bit encryption? What, was the person writing this still using a desktop computer?" With the processing speed the major was capable of he loaded several brute force cracking cyphers to run in parallel to hammer the encryption code. It took less than two minutes to find the correct cypher to decrypt the communication, when the message was opened Xerxes' optical sensors scrambled briefly. "What wazzz... whaar-r-r-r-r..." Xerxes tried to say as his vocal processor skipped and buzzed.

"Wonderful!" Geros exclaimed extending a hand towards the crater where the rebel base once stood, "With the main computer under a mountain of debris I'll never know if someone was leaking them information now." He just shook his head slightly, then turned towards the tank that was damaged when the base self-destructed, walking up to it he assessed the situation. The treads had been reduced to scrap, the main turret had been bent so that it now pointed up at the sky, and several sections of armor plating had been sheared off. The engine had been protected from the blast and main body looked fine, all in all nothing a little time and elbow grease couldn't fix. The soldiers were milling about collecting bodies and equipment both from their own and the rebels when one soldier in particular walked up to Geros and snapped to attention with a stiff salute, "Casualty reports are in sir, all rebels were killed save four, they're being transported back to base for medical treatment and interrogation. We sustained forty-six wounded and twenty-two dead."

"Thank you captain, radio the base, we'll need an aerial arc-lift to transport the tank back to base." Geros said. The captain nodded, touching the side of his helmet to activate his communicator, he had only made it a few steps before stopping and turning back to the general, "Sir, there's no response from base," the captain said. "Try again, comm-traffic's probably clogging the grid," Geros said. The captain lifted his visor as he approached the general again, "Sir, it's not a busy signal, there's nothing, no response at all." Geros cocked his head to the side slightly as he looked at the captain, then activated his internal communicator also receiving no response. "What do you think it means sir?" the captain asked. "It means we get Gamma squad into a transport now, we're heading back to base." Geros said. Once the captain gave the order it took less than three minutes for Gamma squad to take off running and load into the three transports that brought them from Neo Arcadia, as they drove off towards base Geros left the captain he had been speaking with in charge of the clean-up operations. Turning to face the direction the transports left in a pair of flight stabilizers opened up on the general's back as he fed power into a pair of twin turbines on his back, glowing blue briefly they ignited sending him through the air only a few feet off the ground at speeds capable of matching anything a ground or air transport could manage.

Maintaining a parallel flight path with the transports he maintained radio silence for the next twenty-four minutes as they raced back towards Neo Arcadia, even though he had nothing to go on, the city experiencing a sudden communications blackout just as he finally crushed the rebellion was a more than a little suspicious. As the city came into view on the horizon Geros began to magnify his vision and his CPU almost skipped a cycle when he saw pillars of smoke rising from the city, "Neo Arcadia is under attack, weapons on maximum. If there are any rebels in the city, kill'em!" he bellowed over the radio. Pushing his turbines to over 135% Geros raced ahead of the soldiers, approaching the city he completely bypassed the gates flying up and over the wall automatically transmitting a security code to prevent the wall's turret mounted defense systems from opening fire on him. Cutting the turbines he hit the ground from thirty feet in the air and quickly looked around trying to locate the source of the attacks while gauging how much damage had been done to the city.

He was immediately struck by the fact that all he saw were screaming people and repliods running for cover as local security forces made their way towards the center of the city. He grabbed a young blond haired young woman by the arm as she ran past him, "What's going on?" he asked. The young woman in a state of near hysteria stared at him for a moment before looking behind her in fear, "It's Xerxes, he's gone nuts. He walked into Cafe Plaza and just started shooting people." the young woman said. "Xerxes?" Geros exclaimed. The young woman took off running again as Geros raced in the same direction as the city's local security forces, as he ran through the throngs of fleeing citizens the damage to the city grew increasingly worse. Some of the building were missing entire sections of the wall and he could tell at a glance the damage had been done by a plasma buster. Other smaller structures such as open front shops and concession carts had been reduced to little more than scrap metal and chunks of concrete, when Geros rounded the corner to Cafe Plaza the scene was unlike anything he could have imagined. The three-quarter circle outdoor dining area, normally a calm and lively place filled with outdoor tables and chairs for eating and lively conversation, was a scene straight out of a horror movie.

There in the middle of the plaza Xerxes stood amid the bloodied bodies of at least two dozen citizens, four reploid so badly damaged repair didn't seem likely, and at least twenty security officers. Many of the bodies were in several pieces and by the expression on their faces Geros could tell they died in pain and fear. "Xerxes! What the hell are you doing?" Geros yelled amplifying his voice to tremendous levels. Before the major even turned to face him the general's right arm had already begun to change, armor plates shifted as fingers pulled themselves apart and reconfiguring so that within seconds his plasma buster was primed and ready. With his back turned Xerxes fired several more shots into the restaurant fronts before turning to face Geros. "Get out of here!" Geros said as local security forces approached.

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"Zzzzzzzt... kill... you... kill you... all..." Xerxes said raising his arm canon towards Geros. He fired several shots from his plasma buster forcing Geros to back flip several to avoid being struck, coming to a halt in a kneeling position the general aimed his arm canon straight ahead, "Stand down major, that's an order!" Geros said. When Xerxes opened fire a second time Geros leapt forward into air the letting loose with a series of rapid fire shots from his own. It was enough to force the major to leap back several times giving Geros enough time to land safely, "Xerxes, what's wrong with you, have you lost your mind?" Still there was no response from the major as he opened fire again, this time the general raised his left arm activating a large oval shield of transparent blue energy. The plasma bursts slammed into the shield pushing Geros back a few inches in the process. Staring the major down he knew this fight was going to be difficult, having personally reprogrammed most of Xerxes' combat protocols and sub-routines he knew he was facing off against one of the few reploids that could stand toe to toe with him in a direct fight... like this.

He also knew that Xerxes was at his best in ranged combat, because of his covert ops training the major was programmed and experienced in long range combat, unlike Geros who was trained for close quarters combat and extreme engagement. With that thought in mind he charged Xerxes with his shield held in front him as his cycled a charge in his arm canon to build up energy. When the major leapt back Geros, at first, thought he was trying to maintain a distance between them, it was only when he had closed to within five feet he saw his mistake. Xerxes wasn't trying to maintain a distance, he was feinting a retreat, when Geros came close enough he burst forward with an incredible amount of speed using the shield as a ramp to propel himself up and over. The general tried to bend his arm back for a shot while repositioning himself only to be hammered in the head by a plasma burst as Xerxes passed over top of him. Collapsing onto the pavement with a clatter Geros tried to quickly recover from a point blank shot to the head, rolling over his optical sensors were almost completely offline so he fired at the closest thing that seemed like it might be Xerxes. The shot rang out loudly as it struck metal followed by the sound of the major hitting the ground. He may have been partially blinded but he was by no means helpless.

His internal diagnostics indicated that the shot had fused his optical relays and destroyed the secondary processor that would have restored his vision, but the sensors themselves were still intact. Taking his automated targeting systems offline he routed his optical sensors through his targeting computer, even though it wasn't deigned to handle this information format it was able to restore enough of his vision so he could see what he was doing, albeit in black and white. Both combatants recovered at the same time, Geros with his damaged vision and Xerxes with part of his chest plate destroyed. Instead of launching into another offensive Geros instead began twitching his head slightly while maintaining his one knee stance, the major stood watching him before calmly walking over and aiming his plasma buster at his head again. Just as the general had anticipated Xerxes had mistaken his head twitching for his CPU trying to restore his vision. The turbines on Geros's back suddenly ignited propelling him into Xerxes with such force they both flew clear across the plaza into the street beyond smashing through the wall of a nearby building, in a shower of dust, debris, and rubble the two combatants demolished several offices and sent people running for cover before coming to rest in the middle of a metal desk that had been V-shaped from the force of impact.

Even though the ruse worked the turbines had been activated so quickly the sudden surge of energy had destroyed the power relays making this a one trick pony. The moment they came to a stop Xerxes aimed his plasma buster at Geros's chest, firing at point blank range the shot impacted with a loud 'clang' sending the general tumbling backwards into the street. Though smoking, the shot to his chest had done little damage, the torso of this chassis was designed to withstand extreme external attack. As the major stood up charging at Geros he grumbled, "To hell with this." and cycling a massive charge into his own plasma buster he returned the favor of a point blank shot to the chest. When his shot connected it actually detonated picking Xerxes up off his feet bouncing him up and over the ruined desk and through the wall into the adjoining office. At first Geros had been pulling his punches with Xerxes hoping he would at least explain what he was doing, but the fight was starting to spill into the streets threatening more people forcing him to use any means at his disposal to bring the it to an end. Though he had reprogrammed Xerxes for extreme combat similar to him he had an advantage he was about to press, not only was his chassis much heavier, he also possessed combat protocols and sub-routines he had personally designed. Normally these programs were reserved for the most dire of situations because they had no techniques to stun or disable, they were designed to kill, but with no forthcoming explanation and the safety of Neo Arcadia at risk he was left with no choice.

With his buster cannon rendered useless by the blast from Geros, Xerxes had drawn a large blade concealed in a compartment on his left hip, then with said blade raised above his head he leapt over the desk intent on driving it through the general's skull. Geros easily side-stepped the attack, when Xerxes landed trying to press the attack with an upward thrust at his throat he the weapon was slapped aside, then grabbing the major by the head Geros head-butted him repeatedly denting and partially smashing his armor. Xerxes stumbled backwards letting out an electronic squawk from an attack specifically designed to disrupt his CPU, when Geros aimed his plasma buster for another shot, recovering faster than he had anticipated, Xerxes shoved the blade into the barrel of the buster causing it begin sparking and smoking. Holding the plasma buster up to look at it Geros remarked, "Have it your way then." Pulling the blade free he shifted the plasma buster back to it's hand configuration and proceeded to pummel his opponent with a relentless series of punches and kicks without restraining his strength, despite Xerxes' attempts to fight back his inferior close combat fighting skills and weaker chassis made things quite one sided. Within minutes the major was left laying on the floor looking like he had just been fed through a metal shredder, sections of armor had been torn loose, exposed wires popped and sparked, and try as he might he could barely move let alone get up and continue fighting.

"Why'd you do this Xerxes? Why?" Geros asked. With the light from his one remaining optical sensor fading in and out his vocal processor manage to form a few words, "Help me... Geros... systems... corrupted... can't control..." then his entire system shut down. Still stunned over what had just happened Geros was still standing there looking down at the ruined body of Xerxes when Gamma Squad, along with dozens of local security officers, came racing into the building where they were. "General, what's going on? We got word Xerxes had gone berserk and attacked Cafe Plaza." a lieutenant said. Stooping down he carefully picked up the body of Xerxes, then looked to the lieutenant before walking out, "I don't know what's going on but I plan to get to the bottom of this. Contact Dr. Trebal, tell him to assemble a full diagnostics team and be ready when I get to the lab." Geros said.


	7. Chapter VII

"I can't see anything." Jen said. In complete darkness the four escapees from the rebel base, Jen, the reploid Kalista, Valery, and a young man, are left unable to even see their anything at all. "Did anyone bring a flashlight?" the young man asked. "No, I was too busy trying not to get my head blown off," Valery said. Before the group could continue wandering around in the darkness any further a momentary flash of bright blue light filled the room as Daniel stepped off the transmat dais. "I don't suppose you brought a flashlight," Jen asked.

"Don't need one," Daniel said glancing around the room, "I can see in the dark."

Even though Daniel could see in the dark the zero light visual field cloaked everything in various shades of green. When he looked at the others in the room he could see that their eyes were fully dilated with no fixed position, they were completely blind. "Where are we?" Valery asked. From what Daniel could see they were in another transmat room, only this was the first time it had been used in a very long time, in fact the transmat unit was so old he didn't have any data on its model. There were chunks of metal and fallen debris all over the floor that told him not only had the transmat not been used in ages, the entire facility looked to be in a state of advanced disrepair. The only thing he could see aside from the transmat with it's control station was a single door at the opposite end of the room that had either failed to open or completely close leaving a small gap down the middle. Instead of answering the question as to where they were, which he didn't know anyway, he walked over to the door and pulled loose the control panel next to it, then locating a power relay he removed one end clasping in the palm of his hand. The panel began to glow as he fed power from his internal reactor into the systems, looking at it for a moment he stopped, plugged the replay back in, the removed the other end realizing he had been feeding power in the wrong direction. With the correct end of the relay in the palm of he hand there was only a brief delay once he began feeding power back into the system and when the lights in the room slowly flickered on.

Daniel wasn't even sure this idea would work as the internal systems could have been so badly damaged by age or battle as to be inoperative, but it seemed luck was on his side. The others, save for Kalista, shielded their eyes from the light for a moment before they adjusted, then looked around the room as well. Able to see normally now Daniel was able to get a good look at their surroundings, most of the ceiling panels had come loose and crashed to the floor at one point or another, and there was an odd amount of metal debris that seemed to have come from the next room. It was strewn all over the floor almost like a blast pattern leading to the door, with a quick systems check Daniel was able to confirm that the facility was still operational enough to sustain a small power transfer to the main reactor, so he fed it enough power to keep the lights on for about three hours. Considering they had no idea where they were he opted to keep all the other systems offline.

"Why is everything green?" Kalista asked.

"Because someone liked the color green I suppose," Jen said looking around at the wall that were indeed a deep shade of green. Still in the middle of scanning things himself Daniel didn't notice the young man walk over to the control panel until he spoke. "Oh wow, this is incredible."

"What?" Daniel asked looking down.

The young man, having donned a pair of glasses, had his hand inside the circuitry of the panel when he jerked it ever so slightly and he pulled out a circuit board, then adjusting his glasses slightly he looked it over carefully as he pulled out a tiny octagon shaped chip.

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"Look at this, it's an integrated circuit micro-processor," the young man said.

"So? By the way, what's your name?" Daniel said.

"Morgan, and 'so' because ICMPs have been obsolete for over two centuries, this is pre-X technology," Morgan said.

"Pre-X?" Daniel asked.

"Are you serious?" Morgan asked looking at Daniel.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Daniel asked.

"Pre-X means it's technology created prior to the discovery of Mega Man X. He wasn't just the progenitor of the modern reploid race he was also responsible for revolutionizing technology as we know it. By studying X scientists were able to perfect a whole host of technologies that were thought to be theoretical until that point, foremost among them being the quantum computer. ICMPs were rendered obsolete within a year and replaced by things like the quantum filament processor, positronic memory storage, the neural relay, a whole bunch of stuff." Morgan said as he inspected the chip a little more, then placing both chip and circuit back into the panel he looked around the room, "At a guess I'd say this place is at least three-hundred years old, maybe older."

Valery, having been hovering over Morgan's shoulder asked, "Wow, you think this place was around during the Wiley Wars?"

"It's possible, if I'm right it fits the time frame," Morgan said looking over at her, taking a closer look at the door panel Morgan lets out a small 'hmm' then pokes at the controls a little, "This technology is ancient but seems to still be operational, I think I might be able to bring the motor servos back online to open the door if-" he was interrupted in his explanation by Daniel who simply placed his hands between the opening in the door using his immense strength to shove it open with a loud metal on metal screech, "Or you could do that." The room beyond was massive, almost half a football field in length, what caught Daniel's attention, along with the others were the scorch marks on the wall indicating a vicious battle had been fought here once. "I think he's broken," Kalista said. Everyone glanced over in her direction to see her looking down at the body of a reploid she was nudging with her foot, Daniel didn't think much until Morgan about jumped out of his clothes racing over to the body, "I don't believe it!" he exclaimed. Everyone crowded around the body and it was obvious for all to see he was 'broken' due to a massive hole that had been blasted in his abdomen along with considerable, but minor damage to his arms and legs. Most of the components inside the hole had either been fused together or completely destroyed, running a quick memory search Daniel identified the body, "It's Snakeman."

"Exactly," Morgan said, "he was a Pre-X robot master corrupted by Dr. Wiley during the third Wiley War. That would mean this facility was built sometime within the first decade of the twenty-first century." Morgan said.

"How is it that you know so much about the Wiley Wars?" Daniel asked.

"It was my history major in college," Morgan said without looking up.

"Hey, you think he could be fixed?" Valery asked peering into the hole in his abdomen, "It doesn't look like any of his major systems were damaged very badly. His spinal column is still intact, looks like he was taken offline when his main power conduit was severed."

"Are you nuts?" Jen said, "He's a maverick that was defeated by Mega Man, he was taken offline for a reason. He's been corrupted by maverick coding."

"I was just thinking that we could use the help is all," Valery said shrinking back a little at the reprimand. "Let me try something," Daniel said. Running his hands carefully over Snakeman's head he found a small break in the helmet, pressing down on it with his finger a spring loaded latch released opening a small panel to reveal an access port. Pressing his finger against it Daniel established a connection directly with Snakeman's CPU and fed it just enough power to bring it online. "What are you doing?" Morgan asked. "Testing a theory," Daniel said. The theory in question was actually two fold, the first part being that the maverick coding was so old and out of date that a modern neural defense network could easily stop it, the second being that due to his unique nature the coding might prove to be incompatible. As soon as the dormant CPU activated Daniel's neural defense network was triggered indicating an attempted attack and he could see a small status display in his mind.

Warning, malicious code detected...

Unauthorized access attempt in progress, initiating neural defense network...

Network online...

Attacked unsuccessful, defense grid holding...

Tracing source code...

Source code located, initiating data purge please standby...

Please standby...

Purge successful, malicious code deleted...

Running infrastructure scan please standby...

No additional malicious code detected...

With a few blinks Daniel removed his finger and closed the panel in Snakeman's helmet, "There, I deleted the maverick coding." Everyone looked around at one another for a moment with a surprised expression on their faces before Valery asked, "How?" Still trying to clear his head Daniel shook it a few times as having his neural defense grid boot up like that was a new experience for him, "Well, I figured one of two things would happen, either the coding would be incompatible with my brain, or being what, three-hundred years out of date my neural net defenses would crush it." Jen, Valery, and Morgan just looked at him like he'd just sprouted a third arm, so with a small sigh he explained, "Okay, long story short I'm part reploid, I can interface with computers and so on, how do you think I powered and activated the transmat. It's a long story I'll explain it one of these days."

"And what if it hadn't? What if the maverick coding had managed to get through, then what?" Jen asked.

"I felt the risk was worth it because Valery is right, we need all the help we can get. If this Snakeman can be brought back online easily then I think we should," Daniel said.

"And exactly how would we do that?" Morgan asked pointing to the hole in Snakeman's abdomen, "He's missing about two inches of his primary power relay and the secondary relay is fused to his spinal column." Morgan had a good point, thinking about that little problem for a moment he stood walking into the transmat room. Taking a quick glance at the control panel he quickly discards the idea of using a power relay from there, too small, that left the transmat itself. In a manner similar to his escape from the rebel base he removes the housing on the control panel, looking the circuits and wires over briefly he reaches inside yanking one of the power relays there loose since it was unlikely anyone would be using this again any time soon. With the relay in hand he walked back into the room where everyone is gathered, stooping down next to Snakeman he handed the relay to Morgan, "Hook one into his reactor and hand me the other." Morgan quickly removed the two severed sections of the main power relay, pulled one burnt end loose from the bottom edge of the reactor that was barely visible at the top of the hole, then handed the other end to Daniel. "You know I'm starting to feel like a battery with legs," Daniel said.

Beginning slowly he started to feed power into Snakeman's reactor, then when he knew it wouldn't explode he continued to feed enough power into it to fill it up, which to Daniel's surprise, didn't take very long. "Alright, where do I plug this in?" Daniel asked looking into the hole. Morgan leaned in a little closer pointing to one port in particular, "Here, plug it into the port at the base of his spine, it'll feed power to all of his systems, mind you he might still be unstable considering the amount of damage he's sustained." Morgan said. The end of the relay snapped into the base of the spinal cord causing a small hum as power began to flow through Snakeman's systems, there were several small whirs and clicks as systems rebooted and came back online, followed by the occasional pop from a severed wire, then without warning he opened his eyes letting out a gasp before sitting bolt upright causing everyone except for Daniel to jump back in surprise.

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"What... where... how..." Snakeman stammered for a moment as he looked around both shocked and surprised, then looked at Daniel, "Who are you?" At this Daniel actually smiled, "My name's Daniel, welcome back to the land of the living old timer." There was still a lot of confusion in Snake's expression as he looked around before something suddenly dawned on him, holding his arms up he began to move them around before a broad smile crept across his face followed by laughter, "I... I can move, I'm in control of my body again!"

"Yeah, I deleted the maverick coding that had taken over your CPU," Daniel said.

"Deleted? That's impossible, Dr. Wiley's maverick coding is beyond state of the art, believe me I know, I've spent the better part of a year trying to find a way around it until..." pausing for a moment he looks down seeing the gaping hole in his abdomen, "so I did get wasted... little blue buzzard."

"It was state of the art Snake, a long time ago," Daniel said.

"How long have I been offline?" Snake asked.

"It's the year... hold on," Daniel said reaching into his pocket, fishing around for a moment he took out a small palm sized PDA he had pocketed absentmindedly back at the rebel base, "here," he said handing it to Snake.

Looking at the PDA Snake's eyes got as big as saucers, "That long?"

"It's no joke, the maverick coding may have been state of the art in its day but that was over three-hundred years ago, technology has come a long way since then. It only took me twenty-six seconds to purge the data," Daniel said.

"Wow..." Snake said, "okay so don't get me wrong I'm not ungrateful, but why reactivate me after all this time? I mean I was quite the maverick back in the day."

"Well mostly," Jen interjected causing Snake to look over at her, "because we're kinda in a fix and needing all the help we can get right now."

"Can you stand Snake?" Morgan asked.

Snake flexed his feet a few times testing his body, there was a loud pop and spark from the hole in his abdomen when he moved his left leg causing him to wince in pain, "Well here goes one locomotion stabilizer, let's hope the other one holds." As he tried to stand, carefully at first, Daniel reached down taking hold of his arm to help steady him. Once he was standing on his own again he shifted around slightly, "I can walk but I wouldn't count on quick movement any time soon. So what's been going on for the past three-hundred years?" Snake asked.

"Come on, we'll talk as we go and we could really use your help getting out of here, we have no idea where we are," Daniel said.

They started to walk along as a group when Daniel noticed Kalista standing there out of the corner of his eye like a statue, not moving or speaking so he motioned for her to follow which she did. As they moved through the ruins of Snakeman's old fortress the small group took turns explaining to him about a wide variety of things ranging from the rest of the Wiley Wars that followed after his defeat at the hands of Mega Man, Mega Man X and the wars with Sigma, the Zero Wars, to the rebellion against what they termed as Neo Arcadian tyranny. The last part Daniel remained silent on as he not only didn't consider himself a rebel, but he also didn't know enough about Neo Arcadia and the whole rebellion to voice an informed opinion. Snakeman in turn told them a lot about the world during the early twenty-first century, how Dr. Wiley and forced him into servitude by infecting him with the maverick virus. To everyone's surprise he also revealed that prior to turning maverick he was actually a park ranger who took care of the forest, helped people find their way, or find people who had gotten lost, and was actually a peaceful being by nature who had never wanted to fight Mega Man in the first place.

When everyone explained a little about themselves and who they were prior to the joining the rebellion, such as Jen being computer programmer, Morgan giving an extended dialogue about his desire to be an archeologist, and Valery who was a psychologist of all things, Daniel again remained silent until Snake directly asked him about his past. Seeing as how they had the time, he once again explained the whole story, how he had awoken in Zergos, been attacked by the mechaniloid soldiers, wound up with the rebels, although he chose to forgo an extended explanation of himself citing he didn't know enough himself in order to explain things properly. The truth of the matter was that he was beginning to grow weary of simply running around telling everyone about who and what he was. The more he thought about things the more he began to see the bigger picture of the war between Neo Arcadia and the rebels the less inclined he was to side with either of them. Since Jen and the others explained their side of the story, about how the Neo Arcadians were out of control tyrants seeking to take over the world, and that they were the last bastion of freedom in an oppressed society that in itself made Daniel curious.

He had no doubt that they believed in what they were doing, or that they thought their cause was righteous, but he could also guess the Neo Arcadians thought the same. The last thing he wanted was to get wrapped up in a war of ideology between two sides that couldn't just sit down and talk things out peacefully. He'd already been forced to kill several people during the raid on the rebel base and it wasn't something he wanted to experience again any time soon. He had no qualms about using lethal force when he had no other choice, but he didn't like being forced to kill, the very act itself was offensive to him. The way Jen and the others described the Neo Arcadians they were pure evil and out to do every vile thing they could think of, even Daniel knew that 'good and evil' were rarely so clear cut, one man's tyrant could very well be the next man's beloved military hero. From what he could see this basically boiled down to two groups throwing a tantrum over not being able to have things their way and people were dying because of it, though he kept that opinion to himself.

For the better part of two hours they walked through the fortress, Snakeman and the others talking about this and that, there was even the occasional chuckle as they made their way towards the surface. Daniel on the other hand was concerned with thoughts about where they'd go, how they'd get food, money, a place to stay, things of that nature, they were effectively homeless now after all. Finally arriving at a ladder leading up to the surface, they stood there for a moment looking at one another and it was Snake who spoke up first, "Well I don't know about you, but after three-hundred years underground I'm looking forward to seeing the sun again."

"Really, having to hide in that rebel base all day was starting to make me claustrophobic," Morgan said. Daniel once again kept to himself instead climbing the ladder without saying anything, hand over hand he ascended until pushing the trap door at the top open and crawling out. The others followed suit and everything remained calm until Snake surfaced. "What happened?" he exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Valery asked.

"This!" Snake said holding his arms out as he got to his feet, "the forest, my forest, this all used to be trees, over two hundred miles of woodland, gone!" No one seemed to know what he was talking about, "It's been this way for as long as I can remember, Jen?" Morgan said. Jen shook her head a little not having anymore information to add. With Snake still in shock Daniel looked around scanning the dismal wasteland in front of them, "So where do we go from here? I know where the towns around here are located, but I don't know anything about the political landscape, who's liable to help us, turn us in, that sort of thing."

"How do you know where we are?" Morgan asked.

"I navigate using the stars," Daniel said pointing up at the sky. Morgan looked up at the bright blue mid-day sky as the sun blazed high overhead, "What stars?" he asked.

"The stars I can see by filtering out the blue light in my vision," Daniel said.

"Is that why you can see stars during the day?" Valery asked.

"Yeah, when the sun is up, the blue light in sunlight gets scattered all over the atmosphere, turning the sky blue. This blue light is much brighter than the light coming from the stars due to their distance, so it prevents us from seeing them," Daniel said.

"How do you know all of this stuff?" Valery asked.

"It's... hard to explain, anyway, where should we go?" Daniel asked, then to help facilitate the question he rattled off a list of the various town he felt they had a reasonable chance of reaching. He and Snake stood there quietly waiting while the others talked, debating the various merits and drawbacks of each town that was within walking distance even if that distance was a few days away on foot. "You know, you never did tell me why you joined the rebellion back there," Snake said. Why Snake was talking in a low tone and not looking directly at Daniel was something he couldn't readily explain, but in the same fashion he kept his voice down, "Technically I never did, I'm more of a freelance agent."

"I see, that's good to know. To tell the truth I-" stopping mid-sentence Snake snapped his head towards Jen as she walked over smiling briefly causing Daniel to wonder what he was up to. "It's decided, we'll head to Bismark, it's only about sixty miles south of here so if we hoof it we should be able to make it there the day after tomorrow." The situation also had Daniel concerned about the health of the others, unlike reploids... and him, they needed food, water, and rest to maintain their health, two of the three they didn't have. He didn't think missing meals for a single day would seriously threaten their health but never the less it was something he'd keep an eye on. Then there were the Neo Arcadians, he didn't know if they'd run into patrols out here in the wilderness or not, there were so many variables to consider he wasn't sure what to expect so he resigned himself to just going through with it and taking things one day at a time.

"It's bad enough to get my butt handed to me by Mega Man but did he have to steal my Search Snake module too?" Snake said. Daniel, who was walking next to Snake a small distance in front of the others looked over to see him looking down at his arm cannon, there was a small section of the housing that had been torn off and upon glancing inside Daniel could see something had been ripped out, "Can't you just build another?" Snake shook his head a little, "No, the unique abilities of certain robots were proprietary technology of the companies that designed them, even though I had the module installed I had no schematic designs for it in memory and there was some sort of firewall, along with other means, that stopped me from scanning it."

"So what were you saying earlier about all of this being a forest?" Daniel asked.

"Just that, all of this used to be a forest, trees, grass, flowers, it was green as far as the eye, or scanner, could see. I really enjoyed my work too, tending to the plants and animals... but that's all gone now..." Snake sighed.

"Don't feel bad, this world is as alien to you as it is to me," Daniel said.

"Kinda makes you wonder doesn't it, what's worse, a past you'd rather not remember or no past at all," Snake said.


	8. Chapter VIII

Just when it appeared that Geros had the rebels at his mercy that boy and at least three others managed to escape, so long as they were on the loose the rebellion would never truly be dead. To top it off the whole Xerxes situation had completely blindsided him, the one downside to a neural net that could simulate human emotions was the fact that he could be, and was, depressed. After giving his report of the attack to the president, and subsequent destruction of the rebel base along with nearly everyone there, it was enough to ensure his job security but it had been mutually agreed that he would need to quickly tie up the loose ends in this situation. Were it not for Dr. Verdin calling him ten minutes earlier he would probably still be sitting in his office staring off into space, with everything going on lately he hadn't given much thought to the doctor and the memory chip he had given him to analyze. Maybe if he was lucky there would be something in the upcoming report to brighten his day. Moving swiftly through the corridors of N.A.R.I. Geros arrived at the personal office of Dr. Verdin, knocking on the door briefly he didn't even wait for a response before entering, the mood he was in pleasantries were the last thing on his mind. "Ah General Geros, please do come in. I'm glad you could make it so quickly, I think I may something something of interest for you."

Dr. Verdin activated a small holo-display in the center of his desk bringing up a muted replay of the general's first encounter with Daniel, then froze it at one particular point, in response Geros leaned forward placing his hands on the desk, "I've seen this before, what's the importance of this particular time frame?"

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"None, I just wanted a good view of this kid. Anyway, Dr. Simmons and I were able to discover several interesting things about this young man from the data collected by your scout chassis. As you know the on-board sensors pick up a lot more data than is readily routed through your CPU, normally you only see the data pertinent to the situation at hand with all the other extraneous information stored until later," Dr. Simmons said.

"I'm not hearing anything I don't already know, get to the point," Geros said.

Shifting the video to the time frame where Geros backhanded Daniel with his plasma buster the doctor pointed something out, "Alright, I think you will find this interesting." Looping the video to replay the sound of the plasma buster striking Daniel in the face several times he stopped it again, "Dr. Simmons and I have studied this particular time frame in considerable detail for several reasons. First of all if you had struck a normal human this hard it would have snapped his neck and killed him instantly. We considered the possibility of a reploid with a synth-skin covering, but the sound of your plasma buster hitting him would have had a considerably sharper metallic ring to it, and from the angle and velocity of impact it would have sheered most of the left side of his face off.

We ran the sound itself through at least a dozen sound analyzers and took it apart piece by piece, what we have been able to determine is that he likely has some form of metallic skeleton, but the... skin if you can call it that, is nothing we've ever seen before. That isn't the most interesting thing we discovered though, when we started sorted through all the additional data," pausing for a moment the doctor pressed a few buttons changing the display from a video to what looked like one long continuous formula, "we found this."

"What a minute," Geros said, "is that..."

"Localized quantum micro-distortions, at first I thought they were somehow following him until a closer inspection proved that he was in fact the source of these distortions," Dr. Verdin said.

"What would be capable of making these micro-distortions?" Geros asked.

"So far as we know, nothing. Quantum distortions like this are most commonly associated with black holes and hyper dense matter in space and they don't come in micro form in planetary atmospheres... at least they're not suppose to," Dr. Verdin said.

"Didn't they experiment with attempting to create an artificial black hole in a controlled setting about a century ago?" Geros said.

"Yes but they decided it best to discontinue the research after the black hole ate the lab and most of the surrounding buildings, it was deemed to dangerous and the distortions were anything but small," Dr. Verdin said.

"Where did this happen?" Geros asked.

"I'm not sure off the top of my head, um... Zergos I think," Dr. Verdin said.

That set alarm bells off in Geros's CPU, Zergos was the first place that he had seen Daniel via video feeds from the mechaniloid soldiers that he had helped the rebels destroy. The city is destroyed by an experiment gone wrong, then a century later this boy of unknown origin appears, there had to be a connection somehow. "What about this?" Geros asked. Pulling a slender wire loose from under the armor plating of his left wrist he plugged it into the holo-projector and began to replay his fight with Daniel during the raid on the rebel base. "Not only does he survive a direct hit from my plasma buster," Geros points out, "the burns he suffered were only superficial and they healed within second. Give me the bottom line doc, I want to know, is he human, reploid, cyborg, what?" Having fed the information into the holo-display Geros wound the line up again waiting for a response. Dr. Verdin looked at the video with an extremely serious expression on his face, replaying it a few times in several sections, especially the moment when the plasma burst struck Daniel. Once again he leaned back in his seat staring at the projection and scratching his chin, "The fact of the matter is general, without an up close analysis everything we have is based almost entirely on hypothesis and theory, but this only further reinforces my initial suspicions."

"Being what?" Geros asked.

"I don't think he's human, reploid, or cyborg, I think he's something unlike anything we've ever seen before, quite possibly an entirely new form of life. A very advanced form of life." Dr. Verdin said.

"Analyze this new data, make it your top priority doctor, I want to know everything you can find out about this boy. From this point on this information is also TS-1 classified, need to know basis only." Geros said.

"What do you plan to do general?" Dr. Verdin asked.

Having already turned to leave he stopped just before reaching the door, then thought about his answer for a moment, "I'm... going sight seeing." then walked out without another word. His next destination was Dr Yiwl's lab, Xerxes' attack on Cafe Plaza and his plea prior to shutting down was still eating at Geros and he wanting to know if they had made any progress in diagnosing what had happened to the major. When he walked into the lab Xerxes was standing in the middle of the room completely deactivated and all of the external armor had been stripped off.

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There were also a dozen scientists working at a wide array of computer terminals against the walls of the lab going over whatever they were looking at in considerable detail, the one thing he did notice was that Dr. Yiwl wasn't present. "Dr. Lieberman, where is Dr. Yiwl?" Geros said looking to one of the scientist. Dr. Lieberman, a middle aged with a pinched face and red hair peppered with gray looked over at Geros from a wall mounted computer screen where he was hard at work. Adjusting his white lab coat as he stood he walked over nodding to the general, "Dr. Yiwl stated that he was feeling ill and appeared to be suffering from bouts of dizziness, he's returned home for the day to rest and left me in charge."

Geros refrained from commenting about the fact Neo Arcadia's leading mind picked a hell of a time to get sick, instead he settled for asking about Xerxes' condition, "Well, it's been almost twelve hours tell me you have something useful to report." Dr. Lieberman motioned to his workstation, then returned to his seat in front of it, "We've actually discovered a lot and what we've found is quite disturbing I'm afraid. It appears that just prior to the attack on Cafe Plaza the major was working on something, what I don't know, the last four hours of his memory was so badly corrupted we had to purge everything."

"Corrupted, how?" Geros asked.

"Maverick coding," Dr. Lieberman said.

"Maverick coding, how is that possible? There hasn't been a case of maverick code corruption since the time of the original Mega Man, even Sigma went Maverick willingly, hell now days we just use it as another word for criminal regardless if they're human or reploid," Geros said.

"That's just it, we don't know. The coding has become so interwoven into his neural net we're having problems telling where one starts and the other stops," Dr. Lieberman said.

"Why can't you run standard purge software?" Geros asked.

"Because, almost all malicious coding has a core code, without taking that out any coding that's purged will simply be replaced. The problem with this is we can't locate any code coding," Dr. Lieberman said.

"What about computing a cryptographic hash of the quantumware and comparing hash values to a white list, or extending the hash value into TPM configuration registers and white listing them?" Geros asked.

"We've tried that, we identified all of the corrupted code and tried a mass overwrite, when that failed we tried transferring all of the major's memory files to a secured drive, then formatted all of his software. The code reinfected his neural net within two minutes. We even tried encrypting the software before formatting and the maverick code cracked the encryption." Dr. Lieberman said.

Geros wasn't sure what to say to that, one of the reasons they were trying so hard to clear the coding out of the current chassis instead of just installing Xerxes into a blank shell was because they needed to know how to purge this new maverick coding. Something of this nature hadn't reared its ugly head for over three centuries, reploid neural nets had maverick coding defenses but because it had been so long since something like this had occurred it wasn't often a priority in software development. These days most defenses were designed to prevent point-invasion attacks, unauthorized information retrieval, and neural hacking, such wide spread all out corruption was almost unheard of because the penalties for such an attack against another sentient being was considered a capitol crime and Neo Arcadia practiced capitol punishment. Thus far such deterrents had been successful. "Keep me apprised of any developments, I have other pressing matters to attend to," Geros said.

Grinding to a halt on the outskirts of the ruined city of Zergos, two fully armored troop transports, and an empty, open bed cargo transport powered down as the back ramp of the troop transports lowered allowing the passengers to disembark. From out of the back of the first transport came Geros and a full compliment of his elite soldiers, out of the second stepped two dozen scientist who didn't look all that happy about being yanked out of their labs for a field trip. "Alright boys and girls, here's the drill, I want you to start searching through the city for anything of interest, and I don't mean archeological junk either, I'm talking about something that doesn't fit, looks out of place, you'll know it when you see it. I don't expect any boogeymen to be hiding in the shadows but just to be on the safe side I'm assigning a pair of soldiers to accompany each of you," Geros said. Although Zergos had been destroyed before the general was even a blueprint on a drawing board it was still easy to see a century later that Zergos had once been a city capable of rivaling Neo Arcadia in size and sophistication.

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Never the type to stand around Geros moved into the city with everyone setting his optical sensors to maximum resolution cataloging everything he observed. Although he'd seen pictures of Zergos before this was the first time he had actually been to the ruins as he'd never had a reason to come here until now. The destruction from the accident wasn't as extensive near the outskirts of town, but the farther in he went he worse it got. Entire buildings had been ripped to pieces and his analysis of the construction materials indicated some of these building would have been able with withstand a near direct hit from an anti-matter bomb. Some of the streets were so clogged by collapsed walls and twisted girders that they were completely impassable, other buildings looked as though some great hand had reach down from the sky and ripped them in half. Where the road was passable most of the pavement was missing and the smaller buildings were nothing but foundations.

It was a shame that things had come to this, were it not for that one single mistake Zergos could have been a sister city to Neo Arcadia. Pausing briefly he turned to look at something he noticed out of the corner of his optical sensor, a hover car half-buried into the side of a building ten stories up, that was something you didn't see everyday. He had a fairly good idea that the scientists would be poking around for quite some time looking at every piece of useless crap that interested them. He had originally planned to just load some scientific sub-routines but decided against it, despite the vast physical and computational superiority of reploids, humans had their own advantages. Intuition, instinct, hunches, unlike Geros who was governed by logic, humans were capable of filling in the gaps in a problem by what, to him, seemed like senseless guessing, yet more often than not they were actually right which meant there was more to it than that. It's not to say that Geros couldn't guess because he could, but like every decision he made it was based on statistics and probabilities, it only seemed random because he could cycle hundreds of millions of possibilities through he CPU in the time took a human to blink. Thus far he hadn't found anything of interest, just rubble and the remnants of lives interrupted a century ago. There were also numerous household items strewn about the city, stoves, refrigeration units, tables and chairs, as he walked along Geros heard a small crunch underfoot, looking down he saw that he'd stepped on a family photo held in a frame.

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Kneeling down he picked the photo up looking it over carefully, he'd wondered what it was like to be a child before, to have to learn and study something repeatedly instead of just downloading it directly into his CPU, to actually grow, that must have been a strange experience. Hell, having a family would have been a new experience for him. Because of their constructed nature no reploid was capable of reproduction, there were no reploid children, and most often the closest any of them came to a family were just close friendships. The general had had some human friends in the past, even a few he had loved in a platonic sense, but after watching them grow old and die time and time again he'd begun to shy away from forming friendships with humans. Why did humans let themselves become so attached to one another knowing that they would inevitably die one day he wondered. "Sir, we found something," a voice said over Geros's internal communicator. The general quickly traced the communication to the soldier that sent it moving to see what had been found. Comparing the soldier's transmission point to a map of Zergos he noticed the 'something' they had found was almost dead center in the middle of the city. Navigating through the streets of the city he finally came upon three scientists hovering over a stasis chamber thoroughly fascinated by what they were looked at.

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The scientists were already oblivious to their surroundings as they scanned the chamber with small hand-held devices and nodded from time to time as they talked to one another... scientists, they got so wrapped up in their work they'd miss an anti-matter bomb going off Geros thought. He already knew what he was looking at, but asked the obvious question anyway, "Alright ladies and gents, what are looking at?" One of the scientists who was peering into the open hatch looked up, "It's a stasis pod general, fairly old too." the scientist said. "Have you checked the logs?" Geros asked. The scientist who had spoken, a younger man with brown hair, stopped what he was doing, then walked over to the control panel punching a series of buttons, then shook his head, "Most of the data is corrupted sir, we'd have to take it back to the lab and study it further to find anything further." the scientist said. Geros walked over next to the man looking at the display, almost all of the information was garbled and unreadable save for a small section in the lower right-hand corner indicated the pod had been active for one-hundred and three years. Opening a channel to the driver of the cargo transport the general order him to trace his location and bring the transport.

"This is strange," one of the other scientists said. Looking over at the old white haired man Geros asked, "What's strange?"

"This," the scientist said, "I was studying satellite images of Zergos last month and this wasn't here, plus it looks to be in a lot better condition than everything else, wouldn't you say?" Geros nodded a few times in agreement, the man was right, the stasis pod looked almost brand new compared to the city which had by far seen better days. He was more concerned with the contents of the pod itself though, it wasn't unreasonable to theorize that the boy he had fought twice now had come from this pod, but if that were true it only deepened the mystery. Why had he been put into stasis and by who... one way or another he was going to unravel the mystery surrounding this boy and find out exactly what was going on. By the time the transport arrived most of the other teams had filtered into area, "Alright men, let's load this up, do a quick search of the surrounding area for anything else of interest then we're heading back to base," Geros said.

Back in Neo Arcadia Geros let the eggheads have at the stasis pod while he went to Xerxes' office, aside from the president and the secretary of defense he was the only other person who knew what the major was working on before the Cafe Plaza incident, therefore it wasn't unreasonable to assume that the two were related. Sitting in the major's chair behind his desk Geros was carefully reviewing his last session trying to reconstruct the series of events leading up to the attack, "Alright Xerxes, what were you up to," Geros said to himself as he filtered through the data. Considering what had happened to the major, the general had taken the precaution of shielding his neural net with several layers of defensive programming and encryption algorithms, it slowed down his processing speed but the last thing he wanted was to be responsible for a repeat performance Cafe Plaza, especially if you considered the fact he was the deadliest reploid in Neo Arcadia. The search was slow and methodical, scrolling through mountains of data revealed nothing at first, so Geros skipped most of the login session coming to the last few minutes of activity. There he noticed the major's search parameters seen to focus around a message sent from a public terminal, yet when he tried to locate the message in question it wasn't there, it had been erased along with all evidence about where it was going, what it contained, anything. What raised even more concern with the general was the fact that it had not only been erased from the civilian grid's memory banks, a check of the back-up logs showed the same thing, he also found the same data gap in the hard copy files, a tertiary back-up system very few people knew about and even fewer had access to. Whoever had done this knew exactly what they were doing and how to do it.

Geros was about to log off and end his session so he could inspect the data banks in person when the last few seconds of his scan caught his attention. Xerxes had been linked to Neo Arcadia's mainframe to augment his processing power just before he went nuts, system logs indicated that just before the major ended his session something had downloaded itself into the Neo Arcadian mainframe. The general was close to panicking, fearing that whatever had corrupted the major was trying to spread through the city his reactor fluctuated briefly when he read that the download had exceeded current bandwidth allocation and been shunted into an information buffer. He quickly logged out and almost ran out of the office on his way to the administration building where the mainframe was located. It was only three blocks away from the N.A.R.I. building causing Geros to dash through the streets and around surprised citizens, nearly knocking a few over in the process.

He tried contacting the maintenance team that oversaw the mainframe but only got a busy signal, in frustration he patched himself into the city's communications grid and used his clearance code to slice into a call already in progress bringing up an image of one of the maintenance workers in a forest green jumpsuit. "Yeah I know, I was trying to fix one of the- what the? General Geros?" the man said. "No time to explain, disconnect information buffer 46-C from the mainframe, that's an order!" Geros said. With a single leap he cleared the steps leading up to the front doors of the administration building and dashed through the lobby paying no mind to the looks he was getting, his main concern was getting to the information buffer before the mainframe connected to it and downloaded all the data. Just like the hall leading to the president's office the one leading to the city's mainframe was guarded on both ends by armed soldiers and checkpoints. Even though he wanted to dash through the checkpoints he knew security protocols dictated that anyone attempting to rush through one would get shot, instead he stopped and gave his security clearance but made no attempt to hide the fact that he was in a hurry.

The room that housed Neo Arcadia's mainframe computer took up three floors of the administration building by itself, and the computer that ran and maintained the vast majority of the city's infrastructure looked like a massive metal cylinder almost twelve feet in circumference and thirty feet high from floor to ceiling. Even though the mainframe was three stories tall the floors between levels had been left in place with the only the section the mainframe rose through being removed. The massive computer was arrayed with a vast number of monitors and work stations along it's outer housing that were abuzz with activity as it processed all the data that kept the city functioning smoothly. Along the walls were several other workstations space between massive secondary processors that looked almost like ten foot tall metal filing cabinets, slaved to the master computer to augment its processing power and reduce the burden on the core systems. There were at least fifty technicians on duty at any given time and just as the the general entered the room he could see two on the technicians working to remove the affected data buffer, they were kneeling in front of one of the secondary processor units, having opened the outer housing they were disconnecting dozen of wires that fed into what looked like a small clear box filled with crystal lattice memory chips. No sooner had they removed the it than Geros walked over to them practically snatching it out of the hands of the technician holding it.

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Somewhat taken aback by the abruptness of the general, the pudgy brown haired technician looked up at him, "Is there something wrong with the buffer General?" he asked. With a sigh of relief Geros looked at it for a moment before turning his attention to the technician, "That's classified information. Do you know why this buffer hasn't been accessed for almost twenty four hours? Unless I'm mistaken the mainframe accesses buffered information within one to two hours after it's stored."

"Major Xerxes, when he attacked Cafe Plaza he destroyed a central relay node in the information network, it caused a power surge that fried most of the relays in this SPU, we were just about to bring it back online when you called," the technician said. Now more than ever Geros was relieved he had acted as quickly as he had, if this maverick coding had managed to get into the mainframe it could have brought Neo Arcadia to its knees in a matter of minutes. It was almost ironic that the major's homicidal rampage had actually ended up saving the rest of the city. "I want this SPU delivered to Dr. Lieberman at N.A.R.I. tell him to scan it for the same problem, he'll know what you're talking about," Geros said. There was something that didn't sit right with him. Why would someone go to such an extreme to cover their tracks, if they well knew something like this could cripple the city... then it dawned on him, the boy! That accursed child who had appeared in Zergos, now things were starting to make sense, he appears out of nowhere, now this virus nearly infiltrates and cripples the city. This was the rebel's plan all along, cripple Neo Arcadia so they could sneak in during the confusion and no doubt kidnap the president and other important government officials and ransom them back in return for control of the city. "They'll pay for this, they'll pay dearly!" Geros growled as he walked back through the halls of the administration building.

In truth it didn't surprise him in the least, it was standard operation for the rebels to attack like cowards, to incite chaos and confusion and try to take advantage of the situation. Originally Geros had planned to hunt down the remaining rebels after he had seen to Xerxes, but in light of this recent turn of events they were once again moved to the top position on his hit list. The main problem was that with Xerxes out of commission and the mole still on the loose he wasn't sure who he could trust, it was quiet possible he would have to gather any intelligence he needed himself. The one thing he was going to do was triple the number of soldiers and establish a third shift for the excavation of the rebel base, there could be extremely valuable information there and he needed it now. Just when it appeared things were calming down, it was heating right back up.


	9. Chapter IX

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It was early in the morning when Daniel and others finally reached the outskirts of Bismark, a small town on the southern coast. The walk had been uneventful, Jen and the others talked amongst themselves for a times until their stomachs began to growl, then things became silent for the rest of the day save for the occasional grumble of a stomach, or about the lack of food. Daniel, Kalista, and Snake on the other hand felt fine, never becoming tired, hungry, or thirsty. Currently the little group was standing outside of town trying to decide on a plan of action to acquire food, money, and a place to stay, in the order of money, food, then housing.

"What are we going to do?" Morgan asked, "We have no money, no food, no place to stay, and almost nothing of value save for our weapons, and I really don't feel all that comfortable about parting with them unless I absolutely have to."

"And what about the hole in my abdomen? I'd really like to get it fixed somehow even if it just involves welding a sheet of metal over it," Snake said.

"For the time being it looks like we're going to have to make camp here and find jobs. We're in no position to be raiding Neo Arc transports, and we really don't have any other options. As it's been pointed out we have no money, food, or place to stay." Daniel said.

"Do you have any job skills?" Jen asked looking at Daniel.

"Pick something," Daniel said.

"How do we know we won't be recognized and turned in here?" Morgan asked.

"Because, Bismark is so far south and so small Neo Arcadia doesn't consider it worth the time or resources to annex, it one of the last independent towns. Besides, word has it Bismark and Neo ain't on the best of terms so I doubt they'll be going out of their way to help them." Valery said.

"Okay, is there anything of value we could sell for some quick cash? I'm starving," Jen said.

"Hey Morgan, doesn't Bismark have a reploid bay?" Valery asked.

"Yeah, why?" Morgan asked.

"Follow me, I have an idea, possibly a very profitable idea that'll kill two birds with one stone." Valery said.

Daniel was about to ask what the point of killing birds with stone was but kept his mouth shut instead. With Valery leading the party they all made their way towards Bismark, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary, despite the massive hole in Snake's abdomen, they walked through the streets of the city passing various stores, establishments, and homes. There were a number of people watching them as they passed and at first Daniel thought they'd be looking at Snake until he realized they were in fact looking at him, and almost all of the people who seemed to take more than a passing interest in him were women. He found this to be quite unsettling, especially when a trio of young girls giggled as he walked by. "Jen, why is everyone looking me, is there something wrong with me?" Daniel asked. Jen looked over at him and smirked a little, "You seriously have no idea?" It was starting to annoy him slightly having to reinforce that fact he didn't know something, "If I knew I wouldn't ask," Daniel said. "Well let's see, a handsome young, blond hair, blue eyed man comes walking through town without a shirt on, yeah, it's gonna draw some attention." Jen said.

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Having never really thought much about the fact Geros had blown the top half of his clothing to shreds he looked down at himself for a moment, in fact he'd never given any consideration to how other people saw him in regards to something like physical attraction. Glancing back to Jen he asked, "They think I'm attractive?" The expression on Jen's face seemed to be a combination of surprise and disbelief, "Uh, yeah."

"Do you think I'm attractive?" Daniel asked.

At this Jen smiled mischievously and moved closer to Daniel, sliding her arm around his waist she whispered into his ear, "Ask me again when we're alone." Inexperienced in human behavior or not it didn't take a reploid scientist for Daniel to put two and two together about what that entailed. He quickly looked straight ahead again and felt his face suddenly begin to heat up for some reason. As they walked Jen kept her arm around Daniel's waist which he didn't seem to pay much attention to, then Valery stopped in front of a building with two garage style doors standing wide open. It looked like a hover car garage save for the fact all of the machinery inside was designed to cater to reploid needs. It also looked like a garage in that the floor was covered with stains from dried fluids and the three men working inside looked like they'd waded through a pool of grease. When Valery walked in with everyone else in tow one man, who was attaching a reploid forearm to an upper arm looked over his shoulder, "Hey boss, ya got customers," he said. The man who responded was a large, well muscled and defined individual despite a full beard, mustache, and head full of matching gray hair that was pulled into a ponytail. He was seated at a work bench dressed in a ripped and strained short sleeved red shirt and blue overalls, wearing a pair of welding goggles he had been working on what appeared to be a delicate component with a miniature plasma welder when everyone walked in.

Setting his tools down he hopped off the stool he was sitting on and pushed the goggles onto his forehead with one hand, "Afternoon folks, name's Almon Portsmith what can I... do for you." he said, the gap in his sentence came when he looked at Snake. Valery glanced over at Snake as well then smiled to Almon, "Think you might be interested in him, or the chassis to be more precise?" Everyone, including Snake looked surprised at that, less so when Almon shook his head, "No."

"Do you know who you're standing in the presence of?" Valery asked.

"A reploid with a huge hole in his abdomen at a guess," Almon said.

"That not just any reploid, that's Snakeman, the Snakeman, he fought Mega Man himself during the third Wily War," Valery said.

When Snakeman realized what Valery was up to he stood up straighter and puffed his chest out trying to look as imposing as possible given the circumstances. Almon's only response was a small chuckle, "Sweetheart, I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. Wily War tech is as rare as owl's teeth, or for that matter owls these days." Valery was looking a little flustered for a moment, then held up a finger, walking over to Snake she reached for the small hatch in the side of his head, "Excuse me," she said. Opening the hatch she held out a hand, "How that for proof? Pre-X ICMP tech, you don't find that laying around just anywhere." Almon walked over to Snake and looked inside the hatch, scratching his chin for a moment he seemed to be interested, then shook his head a little, "Tech can be faked, how do I know you didn't just whip up some fancy duplicate you're trying to offload?" Valery was about to say something, very possibly in an impolite manner, when Snake held his hand up, "Mr. Portsmith, even in my day it was possible to tell if memory engrams in reploids had been falsified, altered, or otherwise tampered with, considering the type of business you run I imagine you have the diagnostic equipment for such?"

"I do," Almon said.

Snake motioned to the garage and Almon walked inside with the party following close behind, they were lead to a steel gray work station with a wide array of controls and a built in monitor. Once there Almon picked up a cable that had one end hook into the console and handed it to Snake who reached back plugging it into the hatch in his head he'd never bothered to close. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then the monitor flipped through a few different screens until an image of the room they found Snakeman in appeared. Unlike the ruined condition they found everything in it not only looked brand new, but there was a column in the center of the room which had somehow disappeared in the three centuries that had passed. The scene suddenly lunged forward and Daniel realized they were watching things through Snakeman's eyes. He jumped up onto the column in the center of the room, then a few moments later the gate in front of him opened and none other than Mega Man himself walked in.

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No words were exchanged, the two just stood there looking at one another for a moment before Mega Man opened fire. In the fight that ensued the room they were in sustained almost as much damage as the two combatants, the exchanged fire hitting one another repeatedly, dashing around the room, leaping, rolling, about every trick in the book was used. The display eventually began to flicker and become distorted as Snake took more and more damage until he let out a loud yell leaping at Mega Man, then there was a large blast from his arm canon and the screen cut to static.

After disconnecting the line from his hatch in his head and closing it Snake turned away from the group self-consciously letting the memories be tested to see if they were authentic. Quickly typing away at the console Almon's eyes widened considerably and he started looking between Snake and the screen in front of him. "Believe me now?" Valery asked. Still looking between Snake and the monitor in front on him Almon pointed to him, "He's a maverick, why ain't he tryin' to blow stuff up?" Almon asked. "WAS a maverick!" Snake snapped, it was obvious to see replaying the memories had bothered him a great deal, "I was forced into servitude by maverick coding... which these people deleted from my CPU before reactivating me." There was a long moment of silence before Almon looked back to Valery, "Sweetheart that chassis is waaay out of my price range, even with the hole in the abdomen you could easily get two, maybe three million credits from the Neo Arcadian Historical Society just for walking through the front door."

"Yeah, but we're not at N.A.H.S., we here, we're broke," before she could finish her sentence Valery's stomach let out a loud rumble, "and hungry, let's cut a deal."

With a stiff business expression on his face Almon leaned on the side of the diagnostic station rubbing his chin as he looked at Valery, "What kind of deal?"

"Well for starters considering what we're giving you I think our friend here deserves a new top of the line, custom built chassis, and say... twenty-five thousand credits?" Valery asked.

At this the reploid mechanic's scratched his chin again and let out a small hiss, "I don't have that kind of cash, although... if I showed everything here to the bank I don't doubt I could get a loan against his chassis."

"How long would that take?" Valery asked.

"I don't know, an hour, maybe two, I'd need him to come with me though." Almon said.

"No problem, we'll met you there," Valery said wrapping her arm around Snake's, "in the meantime could you spare enough credits for us to get something to eat, we're starving."

"Sure," Almon said, reaching into his pocket he pulled out a handful of small denomination credit chips and handed everyone enough to get something to eat, save for Snake and Kalista. Even though Daniel didn't need anything to eat he wasn't one to turn down money when things were as tight as they were now, so he pocketed the chips for later. "Cooked sausages here I come," Morgan said. The group wasted no time making their way for the nearest diner, though Daniel stopped then in front of a clothing store on the way, going inside for a moment he walked back out pulling a plain black, short sleeved t-shirt over his head. "You spent your money on a shirt," Jen asked, "what are you going to eat with now?" Adjusting the shirt slightly Daniel looked over at her, "Have you heard my stomach growl? I don't need food."

"The more I hear about you, the stranger you get," Snake said.

"I get that a lot," Daniel said.

With that little errand out of the way they continued on to the diner with all due haste, though Daniel noticed a lot of young girls and women were still looking at him and several of them smiled when their eyes met. They came to a small glass front building with a sign above them that read 'Hal's Diner' and booths lining the whole of the outer wall inside the restaurant, there was a counter against the opposite wall through which Daniel could see a large man with beard stubble all over his face cooking food and placing dishing in the window dividing the counter from the kitchen. There were several posters on the wall proclaiming the quality and low price of the food as well as several booths that were filled by various people either waiting on or enjoying their meals. "Oh wow, an old fashioned diner, look, they're actually cooking the food," Jen said. That was strange to Daniel, even back at the rebel base they'd used a hydration oven to turn cubes into ready to eat food. The group made their way inside and took a seat with Snake and Daniel pulling up chairs to sit at the side of the table. It only took a moment for a young blond haired woman in a knee length blue dress and white apron to walk up to them with a small data pad in her hand.

"Good afternoon and welcome to Hal's Diner, my name is Tammy," she pointed to her name tag, "can I take your drink orders while you decide what you'd like?"

Everyone quickly decided on what they wanted to drink with Daniel ordering a water, then the waitress smiled and walked off while the humans decided what they wanted. "Kalista, you've been pretty silent the whole time," Daniel said. She looked over at him and smiled, "What would you like me to say sir?" Kalista asked.

"Is it just me or does she seem a little retarded for a reploid?" Daniel said thumbing in Kalista's direction.

"What do you mean?" Morgan asked.

Looking over at Kalista Daniel leaned forward in his chair, "Kalista, you're a pathetic idiot, a moron, an insult to the reploid race." In response she tilted her head to the side a little, "I'm sorry sir, I'll try to do better."

"You see what I mean," Daniel said looking to Snake, "what would you've done if I'd said that to you."

"Break my metal foot off in your butt," Snake said.

"Exactly, it's like there's nobody home upstairs, for crying out loud we're talking about her in front of her and she's just staring at us, nobody's noticed this before?" Daniel asked.

"Back at... our last location, I was so busy I never really paid her much attention, Jen, Morgan?" Valery said. The other two just shook their heads a little. "Well I'm going to have Almon take a look at her when we get back to the shop, something's gotta be wrong with her." Tammy returned a moment later balancing a tray full of drinks on her hand, then carefully set them all down in front of everyone. Jen had orange juice, Morgan had ordered milk, and Valery was drinking some dark colored beverage with bubbles rising to the top. With that out of the way they all ordered their meals while Daniel sat there contemplating the situation. Why was he even still with them, the rebellion was effectively dead, they were just wandering from place to place, and he wanted to continue investigating the circumstances of his birth... creation... whatever. Perhaps it was to repay them for the kindness they had shown by taking him in when he had nowhere else to go because honestly he didn't need any of them. He was perfectly capable of fending for and taking care of himself, in fact he had actually considered striking out on his own once he knew Jen and the others would be reasonably safe considering their wanted status. When Tammy brought the food Daniel did notice that everyone began to eat considerably faster than normal and seemed to forgo the use of table manners, not that he particularly cared. Sipping on his water he looked around casually watching the other people.

*So what do you think of this whole situation?* Snake asked.

Snake's voice actually sounded in Daniel's mind over his internal communicator causing him to look over at him and blink a few times in surprise, *How'd you know?*

*Considering the fact you said you don't need to eat, I haven't seen you sleep, or ever get tired, it's not that had to figure out that you're a reploid,* Snake said.

*I'm not a reploid,* Daniel said.

*Cyborg?* Snake asked.

*It's complicated and I really don't want to talk about it,* Daniel said.

*Fair enough, so what do you think of this whole situation?* Snake asked.

*You already asked me that,* Daniel said.

*You never game me an answer,* Snake said.

*I'm still mulling things over, I'll let you know when I figure anything out,* Daniel said.

They two of them sat in silence while the others finished their meal which didn't take very long, then when they were done everyone paid their portion of the meal before leaving. "Let's head over to the bank now, Almon should be waiting for us," Jen said.

"Where's the bank?" Morgan asked.

"Two blocks ahead, take a left, it's about half a mile down the road on the right, only bank in town," Daniel said.

Once again everyone, except for Snake and Kalista turned and looked at Daniel, "What, I memorized a map," he said.

Following his directions the group walked two blocks down and took a left, then began walking the half mile to the bank. While they were moving down the road Daniel looked at the various shops lining either side of the street, most of them were made of wood which he found to be curious. While there were trees surrounding the town there weren't that many, wood seemed to be a rare commodity which made him curious why they would waste it on buildings when almost every other structure he'd seen in person, or picture, was either stone or metal. Almon eventually came into view in the distance, he was standing outside the bank wearing a simple light brown shirt with blue slacks and had taken the time to clean up and make himself presentable, when he saw the group he waved. Upon their approach he exchanged a few small pleasantries with Valery and Snake, then they walked into the bank while the others waited outside. With time to kill Daniel decided to satisfy a curiosity of his, crossing the street to where a considerably overweight young woman with black hair, a chubby face, and a solid green dress was working with a data pad he stopped in front of her waiting for her to look up. She didn't seem to see him for a moment, then when she did look up he smiled, "Good afternoon," Daniel said.

"Hiiiii," she said smiling broadly.

"Would you mind if I asked you something?" Daniel asked.

"Ask me anything you want," she said.

"With wood being in such short supply why are most of the buildings made out of wood?" Daniel asked motioning to the buildings.

The young woman looked at him oddly, obviously not the question she was excepting, "Most of the buildings are hundreds of years old, there used to be a lot more trees back then."

"Well that makes sense I suppose," Daniel said, "they must be well maintained, they don't look hundreds of years old."

"My name's Danica, what's yours?" Danica asked.

"Daniel," he said, still looking around.

When he looked back to Danica he noticed that she kept looking at him but every time their eyes met she'd look away. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on so he quickly cycled through his human behavior files, fidgeting, not making direct eye contact, she was nervous, but why? Next he tried cross-referencing nervousness with interaction between opposite sexes. The response he got was that the nervous party is often attracted to the other and desires further interaction, but is fearful of rejection. On a whim he blurted out, "Wanna go out on a date?" Danica just froze in place looking at him like a deer caught in the headlights of a hover car, "Yes?" he managed to say weakly.

"Okay, what time's good for you?" Daniel asked.

"Six o'clock tonight?" Danica asked.

"Sure, I'm not busy, what's say we meet here outside the bank?" Daniel asked.

Danica didn't even say anything, she just grinned from ear to ear and nodded, then quickly walked off down the street, she seemed quite happy to Daniel. The decision to ask Danica out on a date had been a spur of the moment thing, considering he had a lot of time on his hands he wanted to further explore human interactions. When he walked back over to the other he noticed Morgan was looking at him strangely. "What?" he asked. Looking in the direction Danica had left in he turned his attention back to Daniel, "Why did you ask 'her' out?"

"Why not?" Daniel asked.

"Dude, she's fat," Morgan said. At that point Jen slugged him in the shoulder causing him to look at her and rub the area she had struck, "Morgan, that's mean!"

"It's true," Morgan said.

Paying them little mind Daniel leaned against the wall outside the bank just watching the people go about their daily business. It was almost a half-hour later when Valery and Snake came walking out followed by Almon who held up a small leather bag and smiled to everyone. The main thing on Daniel's mind at the moment was actually having Almon look at Kalista and see if he could figure out what was wrong with her, from his point of view it wasn't a matter of if, even Snake who was over three-hundred years old was more lively than she was. The walk back to the shop was relatively quiet, when they arrived Almon walked into an office in the back and knelt down for a moment, Daniel heard the sound of buttons being pressed, then a door opening and closing, before he walked back out with a small black bag in hand. While the other two mechanics were hard at work he talked with the everyone, "Okay, here's how we'll do this. I'll give you five-hundred credits to hold you over for the time being, once the new chassis is built and Snake's CPU is transferred over we'll swap, twenty-four thousand, five hundreds credits for the old chassis. Sound fair?" Taking the bag Valery smiled and nodded, "Thank you, you've been a life saver."

"Snakeman," Almon said motioning to one of the machines, "if you like you can step over here and help design your new chassis."

"Oh, cool," Snake said.

While Snake and Almon stood in front of the console discussing chassis designs Daniel and the others walked outside and began speaking in low tones to avoid being overheard. "So what do we do now Jen, the money from this exchange will help but it'll only go so far. The five of us can't do this alone." Valery whispered.

"Valery's right, if we're going to rebuild we'll need weapons, resources, manpower, a base of operations, it's going to take a lot to get going again." Morgan whispered.

"For the time being we should find a place to stay, get jobs, and keep a low profile. Things are too hot right now, we can use the down time to scout the locals, see who's really pissed off at Neo, look for a new base, and find a way to secure resources." Jen whispered.

Daniel was so uninterested in what they were talking about he took Kalista by the arm and walked back into Almon's shop with her. He was still looking over chassis designs with Snake, bringing up different templates he would point at the screen discussing their various aspects and capabilities. He noticed Daniel out of the corner of his eye when he looked over at Snake and turned to face him, "What can I do for you young man?" Pushing Kalista forward a little he pointed at her, "How much would you charge me to have her looked at, I think there's something wrong her neural net."

"For what you're about to hand me, consider it a freebie," Almon said.

"You're being awfully trusting of us, how do you know we won't get a bunch of stuff from you and just run off?" Daniel asked. Almon actually chuckled at that a little, "Son I've been in this game longer than you've been around, I know when someone's trying to put the sucker play on me. Besides I've got the rest of the money and five hundred credits won't get you very far. Craig over there can take care of you," he said pointing to the man who was still working on the reploid arm. Taking Kalista by the arm again he lead her over to where Craig was working as he smirked to himself, been around longer than Daniel indeed. Dressed in a light blue jumpsuit, sunglasses, and a black scarf on his head Craig had a gauge of some sort in his hand with wires connected to a mechanical arm. Each time he pressed one of the buttons on the gauge a finger on the reploid would flex briefly, but what caught Daniel's attention was the fact that Craig had some sort of design on his skin, it looked like a series of curved, interconnecting black lines of various length and width that disappeared under the collar of his jumpsuit. He also had, what Daniel identified as a cigarette, in his mouth and Craig's attention was caught by Daniel coughing when he exhaled a cloud of smoke that drifted behind him.

"Hey bro, sup?" Craig said.

Waving his hand to disperse the smoke he pointed to Kalista, "Almon said you could help me with my friend here." Craig twisted in his seat to get a better look at Kalista, then turned back to Daniel, "Whatcha need done, or undone."

"I think there's something wrong with her neural net," Daniel said.

"Can ya be a little more specific?" Craig asked.

"Kalista, you're an absolute retard, it was a mistake on the part of your creator having ever built you, you worthless scrap heap," Daniel said.

"I'm sorry sir, I'll try to do better," Kalista said.

Without even saying anything Daniel pointed at her with an expression as if to say 'see'. Craig even seemed to take notice of the odd response, scrunching his eyebrows a little he spoke out of the corner of his mouth that didn't have the cigarette in it, "Well that ain't normal, I was half expecting her ta knock your block off for that."

"Which she should have, but didn't." Daniel said.

Rising from his seat Craig motioned to Kalista, "Have a seat sweety." As instructed Kalista sat on the chair, while she waited Craig ran his hands through her hair for a moment then seemed to find what he was looking for, pressing down with a finger he opened a port on the side of her head, "Well that ain't good," he said. Leaning over to see what he's talking about Daniel looked into the port as well not sure what 'ain't good', "What?" he asked.

"Well for starters she's only got a ten-terraquad memory chip, that's not even enough to run her entire neural net," Craig said.

"Why would she install a memory chip too small to run her neural net?" Daniel asked.

For a moment Craig looked Kalista over, "I don't think she did, hold on, let me check something." Snuffing the cigarette in an ashtray next to the arm he walked over to a large stand-up tool chest and pulled out several drawers rummaging around before finally locating what he was looking for. The device he took out looked like a thin gray box with a screen, a series of button below it, and a single wire running out of the top and bottom. Walking back over he plugged the device into a wall socket, then slid the tip of the wire into a port on Kalista's head. The device powered up and Craig pressed several buttons, then started shaking his head, pressing a few more buttons he nodded slightly, "Kalista, stand up," he said. As ordered Kalista stood up, when she did Craig slid a finger down the front of her pants and pulled them forward looking inside, Daniel was about to backhand him when he let go, "Droid job."

"What?" Daniel asked.

"She's been given a droid job, unfortunately I can't say this is the first time I've seen something like this," Craig said.

"What's a droid job?" Daniel asked.

"Well for starters it's highly illegal, but basically the yank out the memory chips, hack the neural net and shut it all down save for the sub-routines need to run the body and give basic responses," Craig said.

"Why would someone do that to her?" Daniel asked.

"Take a good look bro, why do you think she got 'upgraded' with boobs and.. other stuff," Craig said, nodding to her crotch.

It took Daniel a moment to realize what he was talking about, when he did he just lofted a brow as he often did, "That's disgusting."

"Tell me about it, how sad yo little life got to be to not get you some real," Craig said.

"Can you fix her?" Daniel asked.

"The hack job and the memory chips yeah, but without recovering her original chips her old memories are gone man, personality template's still there though, stored in virtual memory," Craig said.

"How long will it take?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, 'bout two minutes," Craig said.

The rather grungy looking technician walked back to the tool box again pulled out a small drawer first, removing several memory chips he held them up to the light until deciding on two, then put them into the breast pocket of his jumpsuit. After that he pulled what looked like a small, flat, black box out of another drawer, walking back over he disconnected the line from the first device connecting it to the box as he set it on the table. He plugged both of the memory chips into Kalista's head with a small click before removing the first, then lifted the top of the black box revealing it to be a small computer, why he kept a computer in a tool box Daniel had no idea. His fingers flew across the keyboard with considerable speed and he only stopped a few times to curse at the computer before continuing. Another few minutes of typing and Kalista gasped audibly arching her back, for the first time since he had met her Daniel saw signs of intelligence in her eyes. She looked around the room, at Daniel, Craig, then stood up looking at herself as well.

"Where's my armor?" Kalista asked, then she looked at her chest hefting her breasts, then grabbed herself between the legs exclaiming, "WHAT THE HELL?"


	10. Chapter X

The reaction by Kalista was enough to draw the attention of everyone in the garage as well as several of the people who were standing outside, she didn't seem sure how to react at first, looking around at everyone, then when she realized there was a wire attached to the port in her head she pulled it loose closing the port as she turned on Craig. Before the man had time to react Kalista had wrapped a hand around his throat bending him backwards over the table as he fought to both breath and remove her hand from his throat. "What did you do to me?" she snapped. To prevent her from killing the man who had just restored her neural net Daniel reached around from behind her forcibly removing her hand, he had to use enough strength that the servos in Kalista's arm could be heard whining and clicking in defiance. When she spun around trying to punch him in the face he brought his arm up blocking the attack, in a flurry of movement Daniel had wrapped his arms around Kalista's pinning them in place. In a final attempt to break free she head-butted him resulting in a mutual ring of metal from both of their skulls as Kalista nearly knocked herself out in the process.

The blow was enough to make Daniel let go taking a step back to balance himself as he blinked a few times, while all of this was going on Almon walked over to the three of them folding his arms, "Right now, what's all this?" Craig was the first to recover coughing several times, holding a hand out towards Almon he cleared his throat, "Droid job... *cough*... reaction boss," he said. With Craig coughing, Kalista half-conscious, and Daniel trying to clear his head it was quite the scene even for Jen, Morgan, and Valery who were still outside talking. "Droid job, who'd do something like that to this little lady?" Almon asked. Now that his head had cleared Daniel looked over still massaging his brow a little, "I don't know, she was like that when I met her." Instead of growling at anyone Almon leaned forward holding a hand out to Kalista, at first she looked at him suspiciously, but he only stood there waiting. She eventually took his hand and he had little trouble pulling her to her feet, "I can assure you miss that no one here is going to hurt you, in fact the two men behind you are responsible for restoring your mind. I would also appreciate it if you refrained from trying to kill my employees," Almon said.

"I'm sorry, it's just... it's..." Kalista tried to say. Almon just held up a hand to stop her, "I understand, it's confusing, frustrating, you feel like you've been violated and you want to strike out at someone."

"Yes, exactly!" Kalista said, "A droid job? I feel so violated."

"I understand that you're upset and I'm sorry to hear what happened, but please refrain from further violent outbursts," Almon said.

Kalista nodded her head a little leaning against the work bench behind her still trying to wrap her CPU around the entire situation, once Almon returned to discussing chassis designs with Snake she looked to Craig and Daniel, "Sorry," she said. Daniel just shrugged a little in indifference about the whole fiasco, he was just trying to stop her from killing Craig but her reaction was understandable given the situation. Craig was still rubbing his throat a little when he nodded to her, "Don't worry about it, no harm done." Sorting through what few engrams she had stored in her virtual memory she looked to the others outside, her expression anything but welcoming. Morgan was the only one to see her as Jen and Valery had their backs turned, though he pointed to her saying something as she approached. Daniel followed closely behind just in case she decided to try and choke someone else senseless, nearing them she began pointing, "I want to know who did this to me and I want to know NOW!" she said. The others looked at each other nervously for a moment before Jen finally spoke up, "We don't know who did this to you Kalista, in fact most of us didn't pay much attention to you because we were busy with other things. Relix said he found you walking around in the wilderness dazed and confused, we just thought you were a housekeeping reploid that had gotten lost."

"Where's Relix?" Kalista snapped.

"Dead," Jen said, "he was killed before we left... our last residence."

"If I find out any of you were responsible for this..." Kalista let her sentence trail off before giving the group one last glare as she took a few steps back leaning against the wall of the reploid bay. Daniel was content to just stand there and listen to the others now that they were talking about things that related to him, mainly housing and employment.

"Alright, we need to find a place to crash," Morgan said, "since there are six of us it would be best for us to get three double rooms, it would be cheaper than six singles."

"What job skills do we have to offer?" Jen asked, "I used to be pretty good at waiting tables."

"I'm good at fishing," Morgan said.

"I have a nursing license, I could apply for a job at the hospital," Valery said.

"What about you Daniel?" Jen asked.

"Like I said, pick something, geology, biology, physics, mechanics, electrical engineering, find a job I can probably do it," Daniel said.

"Kalista?" Morgan asked, looking behind him.

"Piss off!" Kalista said.

At this Daniel just held a hand up to the group and walked over to her, "Kalista, we're in a bad way here and we need your help. I know you're upset and that you don't trust us, but I promise you that I didn't do this to you and we found Snake after the fact," then he leaned forward a little whispering to her, "and if I find out anyone else was responsible, I'll help you deal with them myself."

"You mean that?" Kalista asked.

"You have my word of honor," Daniel said.

There was a long pause as the two stared at one another, then Kalista pushed off against the wall, "I don't know if I have any job skills considering my entire life was stolen from me, but I do seem to have some combat protocols. I'd imagine I can get a job with local security forces."

"If there are trees around I would imagine they have some sort of preservation department, as I said I used to be a park ranger once upon a long time ago," Snake said walking out of the reploid bay.

"I'll take care of finding us a place to live since I know the town, it's 1:14 right now, let's all meet back here at five and compare notes," Daniel said.

Morgan looked at his watch, then back to Daniel, "Let me guess, you memorized how a clock works too,"

"Yep," Daniel said.

Before they parted ways Valery gave Daniel the money they had so he could rent rooms, then they all dispersed to go about their tasks. With the map displayed in his memory Daniel put the money in his pocket as he made his way down the main street of Bismark. He was actually enjoying the lull in the excitement, it was nice to be able to just walk around without having to worry about mechaniloids, reploids, or soldiers, trying to kill him every other day. The people here seemed like average everyday individuals going about their daily business, even the reploids that he saw were going about their business in a normal fashion not paying him much attention aside from an occasional glance as he passed by. The thing he liked the most was not having people constantly ask him what he was or where he came from, that was getting real old. He came to a stop in front of a building a several blocks away displaying a sign out front with 'Bismark Apartments' written on it, the large two story stone structure was plain in design with five windows on either side of the main entrance and eleven on the second floor.

Daniel pushed the door open carefully as he walked inside, the main lobby of the building was a simple white wallpaper design with a polished hardwood floor, the dull yellow globe lights lining the wall cast a calm and tranquil light over everything inside. The main hall was only a few feet long before it opened up into a larger room with a hall on either side of the room leading further into the building and a staircase allowing access to the second floor. At the far end of the room an old man sat behind a three sided desk connected to the wall behind him quietly reading a book. Approaching the desk Daniel nodded to the man, "Good afternoon sir," he said. The old man had a head full of thin white hair that sat atop a heavily wrinkled face with sad looking eyes, the old brown sweater vest he wore over a long sleeved white shirt had definitely seen better days, as had the man wearing them. "How can I help you young man?" the man said as he looked up wearily.

"My friends and I are looking for a place to stay," Daniel said.

"How many?" the man asked.

"Six," Daniel said.

"Single of double rooms?" the man asked.

"Double," Daniel said.

"One-hundred credits a week per room," the man said.

The price was about what he expected so taking several larger credit chips he paid the man who in turn rose from his seat taking three keys off the board behind him, and handed them to Daniel. After being written a receipt for the room he stuff both keys and receipt into his pocket. He didn't even bother checking the rooms before leaving, right now his main concern was finding some temporary work to help him earn a few credits of his own. The money he earned from any job would be a considerable amount for him if one took into account he had almost no upkeep, food, drink, even housing was optional, and although it was slow going even travel could be on foot as he never seemed to tire. With the housing situation taken care of he next order of business was to see if he could find any work, strolling outside he began by walking down the street and checking out the various establishment. About a block away from the apartments he saw an open front merchant's stall with a wide variety of items for sale, computer parts, jewelry, various tools, holo-movie chips, the proprietor seemed to be selling whatever he hand on hand. The owner's back was turned when Daniel approached as he adjusted some items on a back shelf, then he saw Daniel standing there out of the corner of his eye the heavy set balding man in plain clothes smiled broadly.

"Good afternoon sir, see anything you like?" the man asked.

"Actually I was wondering if you were hiring," Daniel said.

"Nope, I'm pretty much a one man show here," the man said.

"Thank you," Daniel said with a nod.

Another glance around the the street and he located a few other shops, though he decided to not to apply at the store where there were a lot of women tending to the hair and nails of other women, it seemed to be a predominately female occupation so he moved on asking half the shop owners in town regarding employment. No one seemed to be hiring though the last person he talked with suggested he check with a man name Rupert at the butcher shop. The woman at the last shop was nice enough to give him directions even though he already knew how to get there, so when she had finished giving him less a than accurate route Daniel moved on down the road. Turning down a few streets he made his way away from the main road moved into what appeared to be something of a newer section of town, unlike the other wooden buildings most of the structures here were smaller and made of either metal, stone, adobe, or at times a combination of the three. The entire town of Bismark had a very laid back feel to it with cobblestone roads and buildings that gently moved up the hill with the landscape, under other circumstances Daniel could see himself easily settling down here. At first he had wondered why everything seemed to be so ancient in design until he had seen several establishments boasting 'old-fashioned' services, Bismark was a throwback to another era and they used that to promote tourism.

The butcher shop came into view bringing Daniel's thoughts back to the present, a building of simple gray stone and mortar with a single large window and a matching glass door to the right, inside there was a large display case where dozens of cuts of meat were on display. There was a man behind the counter busy at work cutting meat as Daniel walked in, there was a small dinging sound when he opened the door and looking up he saw a small bell thinking what a strange means of alerting the proprietor to the arrival of customers. Rupert was an unusually tall man, at least 6'8" by Daniel's measurements, though it didn't appear to be a growth disorder as his body mass suited his height. Dressed in a plain shirt and pants he wore a white apron that was stained by blood both old and new, his sandy brown hair was slicked back against his head making his already sharp features seem even sharper, especially his nose. "Afternoon, see anything that interests you?" Rupert asked without looking up from his work.

"Actually I was looking for work and someone suggested I come here," Daniel said.

"Have any experience as a butcher?" Rupert asked.

"Considering most food comes in cube form now, no," Daniel said.

"True, know your way around a set of blades?" Rupert asked.

That Daniel did, he had enough knowledge about animal anatomy he could tell Rupert was butchering a flank of beef, and the cuts on display were enough to tell him how he cut the meat. Walking to the side of the display counter Daniel motioned to the meat he was cutting, "May I?" Rupert stopped what he was doing and looked over for a moment, then set the meat cleaver on the counter. For a moment Daniel studied the cuts of meat on display memorizing everything about them, then picking up the cleaver he began to quickly and accurately slice the flank into several different cuts, in fact he cut it so neatly and with such speed he finished the entire job in a matter of minutes. Rupert leaned over inspecting the work, then looked to Daniel, "You a reploid?"

"No," Daniel said, "but I feel I should tell you that I'm not going to be here long term, I'm just passing through town."

"Fair enough, looks like you know your way around a flank of beef, job pays eight credits an hour if you're still interested," Rupert said.

"Eight credits and hour beats no credits an hour, when do I start?" Daniel said.

"Tomorrow morning, eight sharp, one hour lunch at twelve, day's over at five," Rupert said as he wrapped the meat. With a nod Daniel turned on his heel walking out of the butcher's stop, checking the time mentally it was now 4:49, he'd spent almost three hours looking for a job, the others would be arriving back at Almon's by now so he headed in that direction. Things were going well so far, he'd managed to find a job and a place to live offering him some stability for the first time since he'd woken up in Zergos, once all was said and done Daniel was actually thinking about coming back to Bismark on a more permanent basis, it was a quiet little out of the way town, just what he liked... quiet. Cutting through several alleys and backstreets he came back to the town's main road a block away from the reploid bay where he saw everyone except Snake, whom he saw in the shop talking with Almon again as he got closer, the others were gathered in a small group talking and nodding or shaking their head from time to time.

"So how'd it go Daniel?" Morgan asked. Tossing the money pouch to Valery he looked over at Morgan, "I got us three doubles at the Bismark Apartments for one-hundred credits a week and found a job at the butcher shop, you all?"

"Well Jen couldn't find a job, the hospital was fully staffed so Valery's out of luck, I got a job helping an old man and his son run their fishing business, Kalista's working for local security and still not talking to any of us," Morgan said thumbing over his shoulder at her as she leaned against the wall again, "and Snake got his job as a forest ranger, looks like we're all set for the time being."

"Okay so who's rooming with who?" Valery asked.

"I'm with Daniel," Kalista said pushing off the wall as she approached the group, "he was the one responsible for unraping my neural net so he's the only one of you I even come close to trusting."

"You wanna share with me Jen?" Valery said.

"Sure," Jen said.

"Hey Snake, got a problem sharing a room with me?" Morgan yelled over his shoulder.

"No," Snake yelled back.

"Well that's settled," Daniel said as he handed a room key to Morgan and Valery.

"I'm gonna go check out the room, wanna come with?" Valery said. Jen shrugged a little and followed Valery as they walked down the street. "I'm gonna hang here with Snake for a while," Morgan said before walking into the reploid bay. That left Daniel alone with Kalista who looked about as friendly as Geros at the moment. "I think I'll head to the our apartment too, I've got a date soon so I need to freshen up," Daniel said. Kalista just nodded a little and fell in step next to Daniel as he walked down the street in the same direction as Jen and Valery. They both walked in silence for a time before Daniel finally looked over at her, "You're not going to ask if I'm a reploid?" he said.

"Why would I?" Kalista asked.

"Because of the way I pulled your arm back when you tried to choke Craig," Daniel said.

"Whatever you might or might not be I figure you'll tell me when or if you want to, unlike someone I'd like to get my hands on I don't go poking around in other people's business, or heads. While we're asking questions though I do remember some things from my time at the base. Tell me something, why didn't you let me 'service' you in your room when I offered," Kalista said.

"You surprised me, that and I've never has sex before," Daniel said.

"Never?" Kalista asked looking over at him.

"Well at least I don't think I have," Daniel said.

"You don't think?" Kalista asked.

"Long story short I woke up in a stasis pod several days ago, alone, with no memories prior to that what so ever, in fact I don't even know if Daniel's my real name or not," Daniel said.

"Thank you," Kalista said.

"For what?" Daniel asked.

"For giving me my life back, if you hadn't had my neural net restored there's no telling when I might have gotten back to my old self, or ever for that matter," Kalista said.

"No need to thank me, I felt it was the right thing to do and I meant what I said. If we do find the person responsible for giving you that 'droid job' I'll help you deal with them if you want me to," Daniel said. Kalista actually allowed a small smile to creep into one corner of her mouth, "I'll remember that." The rest of the walk back to the apartment was quiet, with Kalista in tow he walked through the lobby, then glancing down both halls to get a look at the numbers on the doors he pulled the key from his pocket glancing at it, four. It was the forth door on the left so he walked down the hall carefully unlocking the door with the key and opening it. Stepping into the room he looked around, it was actually quite nice, a large single room with light brown carpet, a pair of beds against the wall with nightstands to the left, wooden dressers to the right with a small kitchen area at the far end of the room, a door leading to a small bathroom in the far right corner, and a holo-net screen in the middle of the right wall. Kalista wasted no time kicking back on the far bed, snatching the remote from the holo-screen off the table he started to channel surf.

Daniel wasn't paying attention to the holo-screen until Kalista stopped on a channel with the image of General Geros in the corner of the screen, a news reporter was talking about how the leader of the Neo Arcadian Armed Forces had bravely lead a military strike destroying the last rebel splinter cell in a masterful stroke once again proving why he's the right reploid for the job. She then went on speaking of other information about past exploits against other rebels, though Daniel didn't even care to listen. "Would you mind changing the channel, I've seen about all of that overblown tin can I care to," Daniel said. Kalista changed the channel while he thought about the matter at hand... his date with Danica. The main problem he was facing was the fact that he had no idea what he was doing, the idea had originally occurred to him because of a considerable gap in the information files in his memories. While he had files regarding culture and society, there was nothing about how to interact with people so he had decided the best way to learn was to do... perhaps a little research would have been in order. It was 5:15 now so he had less than an hour to get ready, due to an almost complete lack of perspiration on his part when Daniel went into the bathroom instead of a full shower he took a wash cloth and a small bar of wrapped soap from the rack over the toilet.

He was about to start disrobing when he stopped, looking down at the toilet it occurred to him that was something else he'd never done either, use the bathroom. He cast the thought aside as quickly as it had come and then disrobed, folding his clothes and placing them on the toilet lid he wet the wash cloth, then with the soap in hand he began to wash off. Once finished he took a towel from the same rack drying and dressing himself, then threw both cloth and towel into the hamper next to the sink. His reflection in the mirror caught his attention because of the fact he noticed he had the beginnings of a what humans called a five o'clock shadow, so his hair did grow after all. Kalista was still watching the holo-nets when Daniel dressed and exited the bathroom, so he walked out without saying anything intent on a little on the spot research. Having handed Valery the key to the room next door he stopped at the door marked three and rapped on it lightly with his knuckles. Moments later the door opened and Valery smiled when she saw Daniel.

"Hey, come on in," Valery said.

"Thanks, but I can't stay long. I just needed to ask you something," Daniel said.

"Sure, what's up?" Valery asked.

"What do you do on a date?" Daniel asked. Valery giggled a little causing Jen to lean forward on the bed she was laying on and look at the two of them with a peculiar expression. Closing the door behind her Valery leaned against it, "I'd almost forgotten you asked that Danica woman on a date. Okay, let's see now, I suppose it depends really if you're going on a date or if you're looking for a little something more."

"Something more what?" Daniel asked.

"You know, that thing men and women do... with each other," Valery said.

"I'm just looking for a date," Daniel said.

"Oh, well then if you just want to go on a date I suppose you could take her out to eat, maybe go see a holo-vid, keep it simple to start with," Valery said.

"Okay, so what do I talk about?" Daniel asked.

"Her, the one thing that can ruin a date faster than anything, at least for me, is a guy who won't stop talking about himself. Just ask her about what she likes, what interests her, and show interest in what she likes," Valery said.

"Right, I'll... keep that in mind," Daniel said. As he started to walk away Valery stopped him with another question, "Do you have any money?" she asked.

"No," Daniel said.

"Well you can't go on a date without money silly, since you asked her out you're suppose to pay for stuff," rifling through her pockets for a moment Valery pulled out the small bag of credits and counted some out before handing them to Daniel, "Here, seventy-five should be enough." With a smirk Daniel put the credits in his pocket as he walked off tanking Valery for the information, the last thing Danica would have to worry about was him talking about himself too much, in fact it was the one thing he didn't want to talk about. It was almost six when he left the apartment building so he didn't waste any time making his way towards the bank, two blocks down and to the left he thought to himself. The sun had already start to set in the distance casting a dim light over the town so he quickened his pace a little, turning left he made his way down the road enhancing his vision to see if Danica was standing in front of the bank. She was there alright, dressed in a snow white ankle length dress wearing a pearl necklace, and she had even pulled her shoulder length hair back into a loose pony tail. He also noticed she seemed to be having a less than friendly conversation with the trio of girls that had giggled at him when he had walked into town, she was pointing at one of them and didn't have a kind expression on her face. The girls all had long blond hair, were skinny, and wearing tight dresses of assorted colors that revealed more than Daniel cared to see, amplifying his hearing he decided to see what the commotion was all about.

"...information Lauren I happened to have a date," Danica said.

"With who, Dirk the dork? You know that moo-moo is really fitting for a cow like you," Lauren said.

All three of girls started laughing and Daniel could tell it was upsetting Danica. With a confident stride in his step he allowed them to continue arguing for a moment until he walked up next to Danica, then intentionally looking at all three of the skinny girls first he put his arm around his date in a manner similar to the way he'd seen other men do with young woman, "Hey Danica, ready for our date?" Daniel asked. With a devious smirk Danica looked to the trio of girls as well, "Yeah, I'm ready for 'our' date." Leaving the girls standing there wide eyed and open mouthed Daniel walked away, he didn't know why the girls were being so mean to Danica but it really bothered him to see people being cruel to her the way they were. Now for his biggest problem, figuring out what the hell to do on a date...


	11. Chapter XI

Silence, it was infuriating, pacing his office Geros was about to go out of CPU just waiting. He had to wait to hear anything about Xerxes, he had to wait on the engineering team to excavate the rebel's base, he had to wait to find the survivors, it was almost more than he could stand. He wanted to get to the bottom of this entire situation and find out exactly what was going on and with who, in order to keep himself occupied he decided to head over to the lab and see if the science team there had anything to report about the stasis pod, maybe it held some of the answers he was looking for. Exiting his office before he fried a neural filament going over the situation the general walked through the halls of the administration building exiting the lobby on his way to the N.A.R.I. building, more than anything he was just as curious about what the boy was as much as he wanted to bring the conflict to an end. The one thing he had discovered through his own research before ever giving any of the information to Dr. Verdin was that he was using a bio-masking field, something he was wearing, or possibly something inside of him, gave a false sensor reading that said he was human. That much Geros already knew was crap there's no way a 'simple' human could stand up to him in hand to hand combat, it was physically impossible.

The neatly manicured lawns and white marble walkways of Neo Arcadia were beginning to thin out as night set in, the people were settling into their homes for the night and many a business had already closed their doors. As he always did Geros stopped for a moment looking at the statue of Dr. Light before continuing on into the N.A.R.I. building, even here things were toned down from the usual buzz of daily activity, only a few scientists and research assistants were walking the halls. Cutting a few sharp turns down the cold metal corridors the general walked into the lab where the stasis chamber had been brought and opening the door he found a pair of engineers taking it apart while the scientists themselves were all huddled around something he couldn't see from the doorway. It was curious because they should have already had the chamber stripped down to the frame by now, instead it sat in the middle of the room with only two people tending to it, walking up behind the group he saw them all intently studying what looked like black box with a hand print on it. Two feet long by one foot wide it was only a few inches thick and had no ports, no identifying markings, nothing that told him what it was for or where it might have come from. "General Geros," one of the scientists said finally noticing him standing there. His presence announced finally the entire group, save for the woman studying the box, turned to look at him, "What is that Dr. Fields," Geros asked.

"Well that's just it," an old gray haired woman said, "we don't know."

"Have you scanned it?" Geros asked.

"Yes, and the computer doesn't know what it is either," Dr. Fields said.

"Could you be a little more specific?" Geros asked.

"It has no access ports, no markings, no assembly seams, and it's made of a material the computer can't identify or scan through. It appears to be metal but it doesn't identify as any of the one-hundred eighty-six elements on the periodic table or a combination thereof, I think we may be looking at number one-hundred eight-seven. One of the lab assistants even volunteered to place his hand on the imprint but nothing happened, my guess it that there's a bio-scanner inside designed to activate only for one specific person, the question is who though," Dr. Fields said. Geros had a pretty good idea though he kept it to himself, "Have you found out anything else about the chamber?" he asked. "We did a complete structural analysis and aside from this black box nothing seem to be out of the ordinary, although we're still disassembling it for a full visual inspection. We were however able to reconstruct some of the data from the chamber's control station and I think you'll find this to be most interesting." Dr. Fields said. Having been talking to the general with her face in a microscope that was over the black box the entire time she looked over at him finally motioning for him to follow as she walked into her office at the far end of the room, taking a seat behind her desk in a small work area Dr. Fields accessed the computer inputting an encrypted passcode to access it.

Geros also noticed that when she accessed a data file, rather than bringing it up on holo-display she activated a flat screen concealed in the top of the desk. The information that scrolled along was almost entirely corrupted information and unreadable, but several sections appeared to have been reconstructed, "You're not going to believe this," Dr. Fields said. She scrolled to one section in particular bringing up a display, Geros stared at it for a moment, then pointed at it as he looked over at her, "Is that..."

"Yeah," Dr. Fields said.

"That's impossible," Geros said.

"That's what I thought too until I saw this, at first I thought I had reconstructed the information incorrectly, but after triple checking it the results were the same each time. It's an unknown type of metal... with a genetic sequence. Deoxyribonucleic acid, amino acids, proteins, everything needed to construct... something, with the ability to transcript itself into related nucleic acid RNA.," Dr. Fields said.

"How?" Geros said.

"That's what I'd like to, until now I didn't think something like this was scientifically possible. Organics and technology, humans and reploids respectively, have been mutually exclusive lifeforms since you species was first created centuries ago. But this, even a century old, this is beyond anything I've ever seen before in my entire life, if I didn't know any better I'd say someone found a way to bridge the gap between the two," Dr. Fields said.

"What are you saying doctor?" Geros asked.

"Simply put, someone took reploid technology, combined it with organics, and created an entirely new form of life, something like this would be capable of everything both a human and reploid were, possibly more," Dr. Fields said.

"Can you tell anything about how this was accomplished, the tech used to achieve... this," Geros said motioning to the screen.

"Not a clue, these are only scan logs from the stasis chamber, without being able to study what was in it in further detail this is all I can tell you, oh, actually there is one other thing I found," Dr. Fields said, scrolling down a little further she brought up another display, "whatever was in the pod has an XY chromosome composition, it's male."

"When you were scrolling though the information I noticed you reconstructed part of the time indexing logs for the chamber, it deactivated eleven days ago at 12:13 pm?" Geros asked.

"Yes, with part of the data from the index still being intact that was where we began trying to reconstruct the data," Dr. Fields said.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Geros asked.

"No, when I reconstructed the logs and saw what was in them I thought you would want to see this first. I would appreciate you throwing me a bone on this one though, I had to yank one of the memory chip out of the chamber's computer core without explanation and I've been fielding a lot of suspicious questions from my colleagues," Dr. Fields said. "Good call, just tell them the truth doc it's been TS-1 classified and you're under strict orders not to discuss it, because I just did and you are now. Do you have the memory chip?" Geros asked. Cutting the display off Dr. Fields leaned over opening the bottom drawer of her desk retrieving a small gray lock box with an electronic security pad on the top, covering her finger with her other hand she punched in eight numbers, Geros could tell by the small beeping noise it made each time she pressed a key, then removed the lid, taking a light green memory chip in hand.

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"It's all right here general," Dr. Fields said.

"And the other chips?" Geros asked.

"Unrelated to this project," Dr. Fields said. Geros took the chip placing it in a small storage compartment in the chest of his chassis, "I want you to delete all of this information from your computer, all back-up files, everything. I'm going to store this information on my personal computer at the office and provide you with an encrypted site to site link in case you need to study it further, but the terminal in your office here will be the only able to access the link. Keep working on the stasis chamber and keep me informed of any changes or new developments," Geros said.

"Of course," Dr. Fields said.

As Geros left the lab there was something nagging at him, eleven days ago at 12:13 pm, that was nine minutes before the mechaniloids attacked the rebels in Zergos, six minutes before he saw that strange boy via video feed for the first time. Standing there in the hall he began reviewing the data transmitted by the mechaniloids, watching the video feeds of them chasing the rebels, was it possible... upon further inspection he saw that the mechaniloids had classified the boy as a civilian and weren't targeting him at first. Several of the shot they fired at the rebels did come close to hitting him and he began to fire back soon after causing them to reclassify him as an imminent threat and thus target him as well. Was it possible that he had woken up from that stasis chamber only minutes before being caught up in the firefight between the rebels and the mechaniloids... was it possible that he was unfortunate enough to simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time? It wasn't uncommon for people in long term stasis to suffer from temporary amnesia, situational confusion, disorientation, and considering the fact he the chamber had been running for over a century it was a safe assumption that any humans he might have known were long dead by now. With these thoughts cycling through the general's neural net it occurred to him that the boy might have ended up with the rebels for no other reason than he had nowhere else to go.

Then there were the two confrontations they'd had personally, both of which he'd been the one to fire first, and as loathe as he was to admit it, the boy probably could have killed him both times but he didn't, a rebel wouldn't have hesitated in taking down a Neo Arc officer, especially him. Perhaps... in his zeal to destroy the rebellion he'd classified an innocent bystander as a rebel because of a series of events that were either beyond his control or current understanding about what was really going on. The next time he encountered this boy, and he had no doubt he would, it seemed that diplomacy might be the best course of action instead of the business end of a plasma buster. The rebels were still fair game to him though, he wanted them brought to trial and executed for treason. With a sigh his thoughts then turned to Major Xerxes, he was still out of commission, they couldn't purge the maverick coding from his chassis, but from they'd told him his memory files, personality template, neural net construction, basically everything that made Xerxes who he was were mostly unaffected and that they would probably be able to salvage the major himself for instillation into a new chassis. Despite the coding's vicious nature and seemingly unstoppable corruption of the chassis the one flaw it had was that it couldn't spread through software as fast as it did hardware, that combined with the major's neural net defenses had given him enough time to be uploaded from the chassis before he was lost forever.

Still lost in thought the general was snapped back to reality by the sound of a massive explosion inside the building followed by a series of panicked screams, from the direction of the commotion it seemed to be coming from the lab the major was in. Dashing through the halls of the N.A.R.I. building his sensors picked up particles of smoke in the air that got denser as he got closer to the source of the explosion, he was about to round another corner when a young blond haired scientist, running full speed ahead and not watching where he was going ran into the general hard enough to almost knock himself unconscious, Geros quickly pulled the man to his feet, "What's going on, what happened?

"It's Major Xerxes he... well not him... it's..." the man stammered.

"Speak English man, did someone reactivate the major?" Geros demanded.

"What? No, the major's being stored and a secured drive in the city mainframe, the maverick coding penetrated the neural net of the chassis and took control, it's trying to destroy everything in sight you've got to do something!" the man said. Geros took off running down the hall, by the time he reached the lab the entire room was in flames, he had already shifted his right arm to it's plasma buster configuration and was readying himself for another knock down drag out fight. When he actually saw the chassis he watched it for a moment, rather than methodically destroying everything in its path it was stumbling around in the flames that had engulfed the lab and seemed to be firing the chassis' plasma buster randomly, in fact it looked like a half-coded mechaniloid that couldn't get its motor servos to work properly. Since he knew the major was stored safely in the city's mainframe he had no problem feeding energy into his plasma buster until it reached it's maximum charge, then targeting the lumbering chassis he fired a single shot directly into the chest. Without the armor plating that normally protected the delicate internal components, that single shot caused a massive explosion followed by a shower of destroyed reploid parts that had once belonged to Xerxes.

"Now why isn't the fire suppression system working?" Geros said looking around.

Since his chassis' coolant system was rated for several thousand degrees fahrenheit he walked into the lab, when he reached the fire suppression control system he saw the problem, a shot from the major's former chassis had destroyed the entire command interface between the lab and N.A.R.I.'s main computer. Being that this was a science lab and not a military base systems here weren't normally designed to withstand a direct shot from a plasma buster, in light of this he ripped out a section of the wall and disconnected one of the command relays higher up where it was undamaged. Opening a small interface port in palm of his hand he connected the wire patching into the lab's internal systems and manually engaged the fire suppression protocols. "Warning, fire suppression protocols have been activated, this lab will seal in thirty seconds, all personnel must report to designated fire safety zones immediately, twenty-seven... twenty-six... twenty-five..." a computer voice announced. Now that everything was under control the general disconnected the relay from the port in his hand, he left the room allowing the automated systems to seal the lab and depressurize the room literally creating a vacuum similar to deep space. There had only been a single body in the room at the time but the the general's sensors could already tell the man was dead, he had no vital signs at all so removing the body wouldn't have mattered, the room wouldn't be depressurized long enough for it to implode anyway.

There was a small gathering of both scientists and security officers at the end of the hall, as he approached Geros held up his plasma buster, "Found a way to purge the maverick coding, might wanna get a clean-up crew for the chassis though." Continuing on he left the N.A.R.I. building the as he decided to call it a night, it was getting late and he needed some time at home to shut down and run a full diagnostic cycle to clear his neural net, tomorrow was going to be a busy day both in his investigation and explaining by he blasted the major's chassis to scrap metal.

The holo-screens throughout Geros's home activated at 8 am the next morning as they always did when the internal sensors detected his presence not only turning to the morning news, but also activating the general's audio sensors which brought him out of the previous night's diagnostic cycle. The general had been in standby mode, seated in a dura-leather chair in the living room, when all of his systems reactivated and his head rose glancing around briefly. Even though was the highest ranking officer in the Neo Arcadian army his home was modest by comparison, a single story white durotanium house with three bedrooms, one used for storage and another designed as a hobby room, and a two car garage, compared to some other high ranking human officers his house was tiny. When the house had activated, as per his programming, it had also opened the living room blinds allowing the rising morning sun to filter into the room giving everything a deep golden yellow glow. Similar to his office in the administrative building there was little in his home in the way of decoration, the chair he was sitting in in the living along with a recliner and sofa, a coffee table with a few data pads from the Neo Arcadian Tech Today publication, a few end tables, and a some pictures on the wall.

When the last of his systems had fully reactivated Geros stood up walking into the kitchen area directly behind the living room, there wasn't even a dividing wall between the rooms giving it a more spacious look. Even though the general didn't need to eat, and most of his chassis weren't equipped for food processing, he did have a fully functional kitchen complete with a dining room table made of wood and six matching chairs just in case any human visitors decided to drop by... which was almost never. He pressed a button on the wall over the recycling unit opening a small compartment in the wall, extending out of this compartment a single circular tray held two small clear plasteel (plastic/steel) containers one foot tall by four inches around, inside one were several smaller cylinders containing replacement fluids for the chassis, the other was empty. By releasing a latch on his abdomen the general opened a sealed compartment revealing two similar cylinders, both with the smaller containers and another filled with fluids that had broken down beyond use. Removing the two containers from his chest he placed them on the counter, then took the new ones from the tray and slid them into place with a pair of small clicks, "Yum, breakfast," Geros said sarcastically. Placing the two used containers onto the tray for recycling he pressed the button on the wall again retracting the tray as well as sealing the compartment in the wall, then in his abdomen.

"...and in late breaking news, not more than an hour ago we received word that the Neo Arcadian Historical Society acquired a truly breath taking artifact. It's been confirmed that Greggory Darvel, president of N.A.H.S. paid a staggering 2.5 million credits to acquire the chassis of the robot master Snakeman, you heard me right folks, the chassis of a robot master from the third Wily War has been recovered in amazingly good condition considering the age," the reporter said. That portion of the news broadcast caught the general's attention, he himself had long been a student of reploid history, having always had an interest in his species technological evolution he turned towards the holo-screen to watch. "Here with me now is the president of N.A.H.S. himself, Greggory Darvel," the screen then panned to show Mr. Darvel who was sitting across from the reporter in Channel 63 news room. "Thank you for joining us here today Mr. Darvel, now I'm sure the question on everyone's mind is how you acquired the chassis," the reporter said.

Mr. Darvel, a man Geros knew to be sixty-seven from his public profile, was wearing a modern bright red jumpsuit with lapels similar to a suit and a blue under shirt which was the local rage around the city lately, the general on the other hand considered the outfits loud and ugly, "Thank you Mrs. Sanders, I was approached early his morning by a reploid mechanic from the town of Bismark. He was interested in selling me this chassis and at first I was suspicious of course, with all the fraudulent technological relics out there today one can never be too careful. After several tests confirmed the chassis was real, along with memory engrams he had salvaged from the CPU itself of the battle with Mega Man, which will also be on display with the chassis, were proven authentic it was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up," Greggory said.

"The other question I'm sure others are asking is were N.A.H.S. came up with the 2.5 million credits to buy the chassis," Mrs. Sanders asked. Geros already knew the answer to that, they didn't, Greggory Darvel wasn't just the president of N.A.H.S. he was also known for being in charge of several successful large scale business ventures in Neo Arcadia which had made him excessively wealthy, the general paused for a moment thinking about the fact he had almost two million credits in his own account, but that was the result of nine decades of military service, some smart investments, and the fact he didn't spend excessively, his home and the hover car he was restoring were his largest purchases he'd made in decades. "It didn't, while N.A.H.S. relies on donations from the public and government funding to operate it's by no means a wealthy organization, I purchased the chassis with credits from my own personal account then donated it to the local museum here in the city," Greggory said. "That was an amazing act of generosity Mr. Darvel, do you plan to have the chassis repaired before it's put on display?" Mrs. Sanders asked. The donation wasn't just generous, it was also great for PR and tax write offs Geros thought. "Absolutely not, the battle with Mega Man is just as much a part of history as the chassis itself, but for those curious minds out there we will also have an undamaged replica chassis on display so everyone can see what Snakeman looked like prior to the battle," Greggory said.

Not due to start his shift until nine Geros decided to stop by the museum to have a look at this chassis, even though it wasn't on display yet he had made several donations to N.A.H.S. in the past to help fund research projects looking into reploid history so they often let him have sneak previews of interesting new items, that and he knew better than to touch anything. He checked his data-mail accounts both personal and at the office and finding nothing of interest Geros secured his house before leaving. As he was walking down the the sidewalk he waved back to several of his neighbors, the neighborhood he lived in was a middle class suburb where many of the houses were prefabricated, nearly identical, and it was easy for humans to get lost around here, but he liked it because of the people. Geros had noticed that the vast majority of humans or reploids that became wealthy also developed a serious attitude problem and thought that having millions of credits made them better than everyone else entitling them to better treatment... rich people annoyed him. In fact he had once pitched a bothersome rich human through a window, albeit he had only been activated for a little over a year and still learning to control his emotional sub-routines. Because the man had gotten in his face and shoved him, which was simple assault according to the law, he was allowed to claim self defense but given a stiff warning about the use of excessive force with humans.

As he moved into the city from the outskirts where he lived the bustle of morning activity had already overtaken the streets, bright yellow shuttles flew overhead transporting children to school, personal hover cars clogged the streets, and massive crowds of people were moving about in almost every direction. To avoid the traffic jams, both automotive and pedestrian, Geros walked down a series of lesser used streets, there were still people coming and going but nothing like the main roads. He finally exited onto 'Historic Avenue' where N.A.H.S. had set up several buildings including the museum where he was headed.

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At least the streets here weren't too busy Geros thought. He walked through the main plaza towards the museum there were a small group of people that were peering inside the front of the museum, likely trying to get a sneak peak at the chassis that was causing all the buzz. Activating his internal communicator Geros called the museum's curator, a Yvone Dios by name, the line picked up a few moments later with audio only.

"Hello," Yvone said.

"Good morning Ms. Dios, this is General Geros, although I know it's not standard protocol I was wondering if I could get a peek at the Snakeman chassis you acquired earlier his morning before I go to work," Geros said.

"General Geros, how nice to hear from you. Normally I wouldn't mind one of our financial contributors looking over recent acquisitions but I'm not sure opening the doors with so many excited onlookers would be such a good idea," Yvone said.

"How about the service entrance? I'm headed around back now," Geros said.

"Alright, I'll see you inside," Yvone said.

The call ended after that and Geros waited by the service entrance for a few minutes before one of the workers opened the door letting him in. Moving through several clutter back halls he finally moved through another door into the museum itself. The inside of the museum had a polished marble floor with a high vaulted ceiling, walls with numerous displays behind thick glasteel (glass/steel) windows, and several larger displays in the center of the room including the skeleton of something called a Tyrannosaurus Rex which seemed to be a popular attraction in most museums. One of the displays was missing the glasteel pane and several workers were already setting up the decorations for what Geros could tell would be the Snakeman display. Yvone's approach was given away by the sound of her heels clicking against the stone floor.

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"Hello general," she said, "how are you this morning?"

"I'm doing well Ms. Dios, you?" Geros said turned to look at her.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking, if you'll follow me," Yvone said turning towards one of the halls at the other end of the room. Geros followed after her quietly as she lead him past several doors, then came to a stop at the end of the hall. The door here appeared to be heavily reinforced by durotanium and there was a security access panel next to it with a key pad, hand-print scanner, and retinal scanner. Yvone punched in a series of numbers on the keypad, then placed her hand on the scanner while looking into the eyepiece, a moment later a series of locks inside the door released as it slowly opened, with a smile she looked back at the general, "Some of the items we have are quite valuable, such as our acquisition this morning, so we have to take more serious precautions with them."

"Of course," Geros said.

Inside the secured room there were several metal crate with various markings, a few items on tables, most of which the the general had no data about what so ever, but in the back corner of the room he could see the chassis he was so interested in. Encased inside a metal chamber with a glasteel front it stood quietly waiting to be put on display. "So this is it?" Geros asked walking over to the chassis. "That it is, the newest and quite possibly proudest addition to our collection here at the museum," Yvone said.

"So is it true that this Snakeman was built using pre-X ICMP technology?" Geros asked.

"Yes, he was a robot master during the third war that fought against Mega Man himself as you can see by the hole in his abdomen," Yvone said.

"That must have stung," Geros said inspecting the damage, "do you know who built him?"

"Actually we do, due to our obvious interest in history we already have a few files on him, he was constructed in the early twenty-first century by a corporation known as Tanaka Industries," Yvone said.

"Why would they develop a civil service robot? My data files indicate Tanaka Industries was a cutting edge weapons and arms dealer," Geros asked.

"Yes, they produced some of the most advanced weapons of their day, Tanaka Industries was a multinational ironmonger as some called them, that also developed some of the first hover systems under contract by the military, but you're right Snakeman was actually a civil service robot commissioned for work as a park ranger. Why an arms dealer developed a civil robot, we don't know. The numerous wars of the time caused so much damage and destruction that most of the historical records have been lost, the only reason we know as much about Tanaka Enterprises as we do is because of how large they were." Yvone said.

"Hmm, he appears to be quite advanced for his time period," Geros said.

"He was, Tanaka industries often did a lot of sub-contracting work of Light Labs developing cutting edge android technology, at least they did until the Sniper Joe incident," Yvone said.

"Sniper Joe?" Geros asked.

"Sniper Joe was a military grade mechaniloid created by Tanaka Industries from the technology they helped Light Labs develop, a few months later they sold a copy of the schematics to Dr. Wily. In light of their use during the numerous wars of the day, and Tanaka Industries penchant for selling weapon systems to anyone that could afford them Light Labs eventually severed all ties with them," Yvone said.

"Doesn't surprise me, arms dealers are rarely selective of their clientele," Geros said.

"Snakeman himself isn't still in there is he?" Geros asked.

"Unfortunately no, the mechanic that sold us the chassis said that he check the CPU and that the programming had degraded to the point it couldn't be recovered, our tests confirmed this as well. It's a real shame too," Yvone said.

"So how exactly does a reploid mechanic come into possession of a chassis over three centuries old?" Geros asked.

"From what I heard it was sold to him by a group of what he called kids who came into town desperate to make some credits," Yvone said.

"Really now?" Geros said looking over at Yvone with considerable interest, "I don't suppose anyone got a description of these kids?"

"No, why?" Yvone asked.

"Oh... just curious, thank you for the sneak peak Ms. Dios," Geros said.

"You're welcome general, I hope you enjoyed your visit," Yvone said.

"More than you know," Geros said walking out.


	12. Chapter XII

It had been an interesting few days for Daniel in Bismark, his date with Danica turned out a lot better than he had originally thought it would, they went to dinner, saw a play since there wasn't a holo-vid theater in town, and later on when they spent time just talking and when he told her he didn't understand why being fat mattered she told him he was one of the nicest people she'd ever met and kissed him on the cheek. He was just glad that she understood he was looking for a date and not something more. Then there was Almon and Snake, considering the amount of money he was looking to make on the sale of Snake's old chassis he had constructed the new one in record time and it was said to have checked out fine when tested although Daniel had never seen it himself. Things were going well for at work though, Rupert had been nice enough to pay him by the day since he was only working there temporarily and he'd earned one-hundred twenty-eight credits so far, and in two days he'd butchered almost a week's worth of meat. To his surprise the middle aged man did a lot of business, although compared to food cubes it was understandable why humans preferred real meat, he'd heard several people refer to cubes as 'squared crap'. Obviously their easy portability and virtually limitless shelf life didn't make of for the taste, or rather the lack thereof with some people. On the bright side once they got the money for Snake's chassis Valery, who seems to have become the group's treasurer, gave him fifty credits to get the top-half of his outfit remade by a local tailor.

He had actually slept last night because he was fascinated by the whole concept of dreaming, the disconnected images, things that didn't seem to fit or make sense, and some images he didn't recall having ever seen were created by his mind when he was at rest. Trying to fully recall the images and understand them was incredibly confusing, although from the files he possessed on human psychology humans had been trying to understand dreams for as long as people had had them. Also because it was Saturday he didn't have to work so he was just going to kick back and take it easy. He didn't have anything to do so he wasn't going to do anything, he was content to just kick back in his room, perhaps he'd go out later on if he felt like. Kalista was in the bathroom where she had been for about a half hour now, something about image management though he wasn't quite sure what that meant. "What are you doing in there?" Daniel said while he flipped through the channels on the holo-screen. "You'll see," Kalista said. Taking her at her word Daniel relaxed on the bed while trying to find something interesting to watch, though there didn't seem to be much on that caught his attention, there was something on TV about a marine creature called the volt eel but that was about it. Kalista continued rummaging around in the bathroom for another few minutes until the door open and she finally walked out, "So, what do you think?" she asked.

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Daniel glanced over for a moment then ended up doing a quick double take, the change in Kalista's appearance like night and day, when she'd gone into the bathroom she looked as though she was just some frumpy little military janitor with shoulder length blond hair, now she looked like some commando straight out of an action holo-vid. With her security rifle over her shoulder she smiled at Daniel, "So good I left you speechless huh?"

"What'd you do to your hair?" Daniel asked.

"I cut it and changed the coloring filaments, you like it?" Kalista asked.

"It's definitely different, I've never seen someone with two different hair colors before. So uh, what's with the cleavage?" Daniel asked.

"Well I figured if I have them I might as well put them to use, besides if someone's looking at them they won't be looking at me when I'm about to bust them in the head," Kalista said, then looking down at her chest and then back to Daniel who was still still looking as well she smirked. "Like what you see do you?" Daniel quickly looked back up at her as his face flushed a little, then walking over to the bed where he was laying she set her rifle against the wall and straddled his lap. "W-What are you doing?" Daniel asked. Leaning closer Kalista pressed her chest against his and began rubbing his arms with her hands, "You know Danny... since I've already got these upgrades I was thinking maybe I ought to see why humans are so crazy about the whole sex thing, whadda ya say to giving the 'soft'ware a spin, hmm?" Just as he had done at the base Daniel about crawled up the wall trying to get away from Kalista while stammering out several unintelligible partial sentences as she rolled over on the bed laughing, "Oh Daniel, you're such a prude, learn to take a joke," Kalista said. Before regaining his balance Daniel managed to fall to the floor between the bed with a loud crash, then mumbled, "I meant to do that." Kalista busted out into a hysterical laughter at this point rolling off the other side of the bed opposite Daniel. Still a little unsure of what to do he slowly sat up looking over the side of the bed, when Kalista stopped laughing she sat up as well, "Unbelievable, you, are a riot... and I needed that," Kalista said.

"Needed what?" Daniel asked.

"A good laugh, I can't remember the last time I laughed like that, in fact I can't remember the last time I laughed at all," Kalista said, falling over behind the bed again. Considering the incredibly odd behavior from the reploid threatening violent retribution against the person that had hacked her neural-net he wondered if she was starting to malfunction, "Are you functioning properly?" Daniel asked. Once again sitting up and still laughing slightly she shook her head, "No, I'm fine, you're just soooo funny, I have never seen someone so scared of sex, or for the matter the mere suggestion of it. What is with you anyway?" Kalista asked. The question caused Daniel to arch a brow again as he was caught somewhat off guard by it, "What's that suppose to mean?" he asked slowly sitting on the edge of the bed again. Kalista came around the end of the bed she sat down next to Daniel, "I mean this whole scared of sex thing, from what the data files stored in my neural net tell me a lot of humans treat sex as a recreational activity," Kalista said. Scratching the back of his head a little Daniel shrugged, "Yeah I have those same data files too, but I also have data files saying that sex is also a very intimate thing that can lead to emotional attachment, I barely know anything about myself let alone someone else, the last thing I want is to get attached to someone right now. That and I've never felt close enough to anyone to want to do that... hell I don't even know if I can," Daniel said.

"You have the proper equipment don't you?" Kalista asked.

"Of course I do," Daniel said.

"Okay I'm going to amend one of my earlier statements, what are you?" Kalista asked.

"Going there are we?" Daniel grumbled.

"I'm sorry I don't mean to pry, it's just that you're a complete mystery to me, it obvious that you're not human, but you're... fleshy like a human. Would it make you feel better if I told you something personal about me?" Kalista asked.

"Like what?" Daniel asked.

"Like the fact I wasn't entirely honest with Morgan when I said a had combat protocols, to be more precise I was only partially honest. See I have combat protocols, sub-routines, and a whole lot more. I know how to kill a human or reploid in over two-hundred different ways with a single move," Kalista said as she looked away uncomfortably.

"Wait a minute, you were programmed to kill... you're an assassin?" Daniel asked.

"I think I was, without my memories I don't know," Kalista said.

"Wow... okay. The truth of the matter is I don't know what I am, human, reploid, both, I really don't know. I have no memories prior to waking up in that stasis chamber so I guess we're in the same boat there. I seem to be human, I have a lot of human parts, but there's also a reploid aspect to me. I'm as strong as a reploid, I don't get tired, I don't need to eat or sleep. I seem to have a computer crammed somewhere in my brain because I can think as fast as one, calculate like one, and I get status display screen inside my head, it's really confusing. Even though most of the files have loaded I still don't know who I am and it's really infuriating to be honest, I'm starting to wonder if I even have an identity profile," Daniel said.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," Kalista said.

"Where's Snake, I haven't seen him all morning," Daniel said changing the subject.

"I think he took his new chassis for a spin in the forest outside town, at least that's what he said when I saw him this morning," Kalista said.

"Have you seen it?" Daniel asked.

"No," Kalista said.

With a nod of his head Daniel motioned towards the door, Kalista stood up from the bed grabbing her rifle, slinging it over her shoulder the two of them headed out of of the apartment. Outside the two of them both noticed that there were a lot more people out and about today, they seemed to be in high spirits. There were a lot of younger children running around playing with remote controlled toys, or just playing with one another while the adults didn't seem to be in a large hurry to get anywhere or do anything, most of the adults who weren't working were either sitting outside watching the kids while they talked among themselves, or shopping. Daniel and Kalista walked through the streets of Bismark keeping mostly to themselves, they stopped a few times as children ran out in front of them then continued on their way. When they reached the edge of town they stopped on the dirt path leading through the forest to look around for a moment, the tall oak trees with their long limbs were in full bloom making a small rustling sound as a summer's breeze blew lazily through the leaves. The minor problem with their plan was they had no idea where Snake was, nor did they hear him moving around, so Daniel activated his internal communicator using the frequency they had spoken over in the diner earlier.

*Snake, where are you?* Daniel asked.

*I'm in the woods outside town,* Snake said.

*I figured that much out for myself, Kalista and I wanted to see your new chassis,* Daniel said.

*No problem, where are you?* Snake asked.

*The northern entrance to town,* Daniel said.

Snake's communicator disconnected after that, for a time neither of them heard anything, then at the same time they both looked to to the east hearing something moving through the trees at high speed. They could both see that it was Snake and he was taking somewhat of a round about way in getting to them, he seemed to be running though the woods at full speed and Daniel smirked to himself, he was enjoying the new chassis. When he stopped and thought about it, it seemed he had something in common with both reploids. Like Snake he was exploring a new world, having been offline for over three centuries the world had changed drastically from what he had once known. Kalista had no memories of life before now so he could relate to both of them in a way. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to lose a battle, then just wake up three centuries later, the changes must have been staggering. From conversations they'd had before Snake had described the world he remembered, one filled with greenery almost as far as the eye could see, wildlife, people everywhere. Now there was almost no flora or fauna left, most of what Daniel had seen was desolate wasteland save for some diehard vegetation and carefully preserved land around this town.

"Boo!" Snake said popping up in front of Daniel, "So, whadda think?"

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"The question is what do you think, how does it feel?" Daniel asked.

"It is absolutely incredible, I've never felt so alive. I'm faster, stronger, and this new neural net is so much more effective. I can calculate more, and at higher speeds, I love it!" Snake said.

"I can tell, you been tearing through the woods all morning?" Kalista asked.

"I was covering for another forest ranger actually, he got sick yesterday so I thought I'd pick up some more credits, got off duty about fifteen minutes ago," Snake said.

"Aren't you worried, now that your old chassis has been sold aren't people going to come looking for you? After all you are a walking piece of history," Daniel said.

"Not really, I had Almon load just enough programming into my old CPU to make it look like my program had degraded beyond the point of recovery. For all intents and purposes they'll think I'm dead, by the way would you mind not calling me Snake anymore, now that I have this new chassis I chose a new name to go with it, Tau," Snake said.

While Daniel, Tau, and Kalista were standing there talking their three human companions came running up behind them, they looked to be in somewhat of a hurry which first caught Tau's attention, then when the others saw the perplexed expression on his face they turned to see what the commotion was about.

"Come on guys, we gotta go, now!" Jen said.

"What is it, trouble?" Daniel asked.

"No," Morgan said, "we just received a tip that there's a valuable shipment of goods from Neo Arc due to pass through the area in a few hours, if we hurry we can still intercept it."

"What happened to laying low?" Tau asked.

"And where did you get this tip?" Kalista asked.

"Come on," Valery said as they took off, "we'll explain on the way."

As a group they dashed off into the wastelands surrounding Bismark, Danial let Jen take the lead since she knew where they were going, though he wasn't sure if this was really all that great of an idea considering the limited endurance of the humans in the group. Though they started out at a dead run things quickly slowed down and Daniel merely kept pace while mulling the situation over in his head, why was he helping them, why was he even with the rebels anymore, they'd long since outlived their usefulness, in fact he didn't even want to be on this little outing in the first place and he had a sneaking suspicion that Tau and Kalista weren't too crazy about the idea either. He did however have some questions first as did the others, when they finally slowed down to a normal pace he looked over at Morgan, "Where'd you get this tip from?" Daniel asked.

"We have an informant inside Neo Arc who sends us information from time to time to help the cause," Morgan asked.

"Interesting, a mole or a traitor?" Tau asked.

"A patriot," Morgan said, "he helped us keep one step ahead of Geros for a long time, well, until the raid on the base that is. He's taking a tremendous risk in doing this too because if he's caught he knows he would be executed for treason."

"Who is this informant?" Daniel asked.

"We don't know, he's only ever contacted us by means of text messages using the name Mr. Grey," Morgan said.

"You're accepting information from someone you don't even know?" Kalista asked with a surprised expression.

"Yes," Valery said, "of course we were suspicious at first but the commanders checked out his information very carefully and cautiously when he first contacted us, over time he eventually earned the rebellion's trust. Several of his tips kept us from being attacked by Geros and his minions, other helped us find valuable goods to raid, the information is very accurate."

"How did you contact him after the base was destroyed, no offense but none of you were all that high on the totem pole to begin with," Daniel said.

"That's the funny thing, he contacted us. He must be pretty high in the chain of command in Neo Arc because he seems to have access to a lot of sensitive information," Morgan said holding up a small mobile phone, "I just bought this thing the day before yesterday."

The entire situation seemed off to Daniel, an mysterious informant, the way he was able to contact Morgan only two days after he had bought a new mobile phone, for that matter buying a mobile phone was stupid to begin with considering it could be tracked. Everything about this seemed wrong and the more Daniel thought about it the more it bothered him.

*A mobile phone, is he serious? Even novice idiots know not to use electronics that can be easily traced,* Tau said to Daniel over his internal communicator.

*I know, it's as if the rebellion's been reduced to a handful of amateurs running around committing crimes,* Daniel said.

*Are you really going to go through with this?* Tau asked.

*Yes, so far as making sure they don't get themselves killed, after that I think it's time I went my own way before these three get me into anymore trouble than I'm already in,* Daniel said.

*Well count me in, figuring out what's going on with you sounds more interesting anyway,* Tau said.

*Kalista, can you hear me?* Daniel asked switching frequencies.

*Daniel, is that you?* Kalista asked.

*Yes, I told you I have reploid capabilities, now listen to me. Tau and I have decided after this raid that we're splitting before these nitwits get us into more trouble or worse, you with us?* Daniel asked.

*I thought you'd never ask, I don't even know why we're still hanging around with them,* Kalista said.

For the remaining two hours they walked in silence slowly turning to the northwest, as they did the land changed from a flat barren wasteland to rolling hills with large outcroppings of sharp rocks jutting up out of the ground, some at high as fifteen feet. Jen motioned for them to hide behind one of the larger grouping of rocks as they approached a road, while the others waited in silence with their weapons drawn Daniel was actually checking out the rocks of all things. The formations were extrusive igneous rock, formed at the surface of the Earth's crust as a result of the partial melting of rocks within the mantle and crust, glancing around for a moment he sniffed the air noticing a small increase in sulfur and carbon dioxide... the area was still geologically active. He knew there was no need to worry about volcanic activity though, if an eruption were imminent the sulfur and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be a lot higher, there would also be tectonic activity as well.

"Morgan, tell me something, with so little flora around how is the oxygen content in the atmosphere maintained?" Daniel asked in a whisper.

"What?" Morgan asked looking over at him, "Now's a hell of a time to be talking about ecology."

"Well there's nothing coming right now anyway, figured I'd ask," Daniel said.

"Atmospheric recyclers, they're placed all over the continent, they use artificial chlorophyl and some other stuff I'm not sure about to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen," Morgan said.

While Morgan and the others seemed on edge about the upcoming raid Daniel was more interested in his surroundings, seemingly detached from what was going on. The explanation made sense though, we the almost complete lack of trees and other plant life around a means of maintaining the atmosphere would be needed otherwise the atmosphere would eventually become toxic and unable to support life. According to his data files the optimal oxygen content for humans by atmospheric volume was twenty-one percent although the computer crammed in his head told him the oxygen content here was only nineteen percent, if it dropped by another two percent Jen and the others would begin showing the first sign of hypoxia, or lack of oxygen. Why the hell Daniel was thinking about the atmosphere and oxygen content at a time like this he didn't know although it was still a matter of considerable interest to him none the less. He was still lost in though when Valery, Morgan, and Tau dashed across the road hiding behind another outcropping of rocks on the other side. The movement brought Daniel back to the situation at hand even though he knew the truck was on its way, he heard it well before his human companions.

"Alright, normally transports have two soldiers up front and one in the back. When they drive by Valery and I will handle the guard in the back, Snake and Morgan will handle the passenger side, that leaves you and Kalista to handle the driver's side," Jen said.

"He changed his name to Tau," Daniel said.

"What?" Jen asked.

"Snake, he changed his name to Tau," Daniel said.

"Okay... noted," Jen said.

Now that everyone was in position Daniel peered out from behind the rock he was hiding behind briefly to get a look at the truck before it got too close. The hover transport, moving in a southwestern direction, was a dull brown truck with a cloth covered back and it didn't appear that the driver was in much of a hurry to get anywhere judging from the speed. Able to calculate speed and distance by the thrumming of the repulsors Daniel looked to Jen holding his hand up, then when it seemed like the transport was right on top of them he made a fist. "NOW!" Jen yelled. All at once the six of them poured out of their hiding places as they descended upon the transport, the soldiers were caught completely by surprise as they were assaulted from all sides. Morgan jumped up on the step next to the passenger side door holding his pulse pistol to the window while Jen and Valery dashed around back throwing the doors open, there was a lot of yelling but fortunately no shots were fired. For his part Daniel slammed his fingers into the driver's side door ripping it clear off the hinges with a loud screech of tearing metal as he stood on the step, grabbed the driver by his collar and promptly deposited him on the ground. When the soldier tried to draw his sidearm Daniel stepped down and kicked the gun out of his hand before he was able to aim it, then when the man tried to get up to rush him he was pushed against one of the rock outcropping hard enough he bounced before hitting the ground again.

"Stay down," Daniel said.

The two other guards were quickly brought around and to made to sit by the driver while Morgan and Kalista kept their weapons trained on them, Tau had already jumped into the transport bringing it to a stop while Jen and Valery crawled into the back to see exactly what the cargo was while Daniel disarmed the other two soldiers. There was a long moment of silence as soldiers eyed their captors warily, the tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife before Jen exclaimed, "Jackpot!" causing everyone except Daniel to jump slighty. Valery was the first out of the back of the transport with an absolutely ecstatic look on her face, "Guys you're not going to believe this, the transport's filled with newly minted credits, boxes and boxes of credits, at least a quarter of a million!" Daniel looked from the guards to Valery, then to Tau, "A quarter million credits only guarded by three soldiers, that doesn't make any sense. Why would they leave so much money practically out in the open like this?"

"Large convoys draw attention," Tau said stepping out of the transport, "I would imagine they were trying to keep this whole thing on the QT, make it look like a routine transport to keep suspicion off."

"You're telling me, if I'd known we were transporting that kinda money I might have just driven off with it," one of the soldiers said.

"You didn't know?" Daniel asked the guard.

"No, the containers were all sealed before transport and we were told it was classified material, need to know basis," the soldier said.

"Well as interesting a story as that sounds let's get the hell out of here before anyone finds out we just jacked their money," Morgan said.

"Sorry boys, this is where you say so long," Jen said as she aimed her pulse pistol at the guard who'd spoken. With split second reflexes Daniel reached out grabbing Jen's wrist causing the burst of pulse rounds to go wide smacking into the rock behind the soldier, "Jen, what are you doing?" Daniel said. In an almost indignant manner she jerked her arm away, "What do you think I'm doing, I'm taking care of the enemy," Jen snapped.

"There's no need to kill them, you have the money, I have their weapons, just let them go," Daniel said.

"It doesn't work that way, they're the enemy, it's us or them," Jen said as she started to aim for the guard again. The second time Jen trained her weapon on the guard Daniel grabbed her wrist again, only this time when she tried to pull away he wouldn't let go of her arm. "Let go of me," Jen said with palpable hint of anger in her voice.

"No," Daniel said.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Jen snarled, "You didn't seem to have a problem killing soldiers when they raided our base."

"That's because they were trying to kill me, these soldiers are no threat," Daniel said.

"I'm not going to say this again, let go of my wrist or else," Jen said.

Perhaps it was combination of saying the right thing at the wrong time, or maybe it was a reaction to the thought of someone murdering three unarmed men in cold blood, but when Jen said 'or else' Daniel felt his muscles tense as a burning anger welled up inside of him. Jen's wrist began to snap and pop as he tightened his grip and the look of pain on her face as she used her free hand to try to pull his hand from her wrist free made it obvious that he was hurting her. Without warning he clamped down on her throat with his other hand forcing her to her knees as she gasped for breath. When Morgan and Valery began moving to aim their weapons at Daniel, Tau and Kalista both turned on them, Kalista aiming her rifle at Morgan and Tau shifting his right arm into a plasma buster which he aimed at Valery.

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"Or else what? I've had just about all I can take of you and this pathetically inept attempt at reviving a dead cause. From the moment I met Relix and the others in Zergos I've been shot at, shot, beaten, attacked, and now you're going to threaten me, I don't think so. Now listen carefully because I will not repeat myself, drop the pulse pistol or I will snap your neck Jenaviv," Daniel said baring his teeth. He released his grip enough for her to catch her breath, then when she dropped the pulse pistol he threw her back against the cab of the transport hard enough to stun her so that she hit the ground face first. Valery and Morgan were looking at Daniel and the others with expressions of surprise and confusion to rival that of the soldiers, none of them knew exactly what was going on. "So... is this the... thanks we get for... everything we've done... for you," Jen said pushing herself onto her hands and knees, "we took you in when you had nowhere to go, befriended you, provided for you, and now you just toss us aside?"

"Please, if I hadn't activated the transmat at the base you'd all be dead right now so we're more than even. This was never my fight to begin with and I'm not going to be drug any further into this, you helped me, I helped you, we're done," Daniel said looking down at her.

"Tau?" Jen said.

"Hey don't look at me, I never wanted to be part of a war to begin with, plus you got twenty-five large offa me so I'd say we're square," Tau said.

"All three of you can piss off, I still don't trust any of you. Danny Boy over here's the only one I even come close to trusting," Kalista said before Jen could even ask.

"S-So now what?" Valery said.

"So now the three of you get into the transport and leave," Daniel said.

"What about the three of you?" Morgan asked.

"This is where we part ways, I've stayed with the three of you as long as I can but now I have to go my own way and look for the truth of my past, I need to know what I am... why I am," Daniel said, as he started to turn to leave he paused for a moment. Reaching into Morgan's pocket he took the mobile phone out, tossed it on the ground, then using one of the pulse pistols he took from the soldiers he shot it leaving nothing but a circular scorch mark, "Rebellion basics 101, don't use easily traced electronics," Daniel said. There were no more words exchanged between the now divided parties as Jen, Morgan, and Valery all crammed into the front of the transport, in the driver's seat Jen stomped on the accelerator angrily causing the vehicle to take off at high speed. As the six of them, soldiers included, watched it speed off into the distance the man who had spoken earlier stood, "Thanks, we owe you our lives man," the soldier said. Still holding the pulse pistol in his hand and not at all in a good mood Daniel turned, shooting at the soldier's feet several times he intentionally missed, "Take a hike." Kalista made sure to grab the pulse pistol Daniel had kicked out of the soldier's hand earlier before they left just to be on the safe side, then followed as he and Tau left heading north.

"So what now Daniel?" Tau asked.

"So now I start trying to unravel the mystery of my origins, all the files in my memory have loaded, no identity profile or mission directives, apparently whoever created me decided to leave that in a separate directory," Daniel said.

"Separate directory?" Kalista asked.

"Yes, the last file to load was an information file, it told me there's a black box located inside the stasis chamber I woke up in and that everything I need to know is in there," Daniel said.

"Where's the stasis chamber?" Kalista asked.

"Zergos," Daniel said.


	13. Chapter XIII

Ever since the situation with Major Xerxes, the discovery of the stasis chamber and the black box it seemed as though the halls of N.A.R.I. had become a second home for General Geros. His duty this time was one that he was most assuredly not looking forward to, about twenty minutes ago he had received a call that they had finally purged all of the maverick coding from the major and installed him into a new chassis... now he just had to tell his best friend he had massacred dozens of innocent beings after losing control of himself. He couldn't begin to imagine how this was going to make him feel. For Geros his life was dedicated to the service of Neo Arcadia, he couldn't imagine doing anything but what he did here, it was all he knew. Geros passed through the cold steel corridors of the N.A.R.I. building trying to think of how he was going to break this the major, there was really only one way to go about it and that was to just tell him. Approaching the lab where Xerxes was being loaded into another chassis he stopped for a moment trying to brace himself, once prepared he pressed a button on the control pad next to the door, they slid open in response and there inside the lab several nervous engineers were putting the finishing touches on the new chassis. "How are things coming gentlemen?" Geros asked as he walked into the room. Before anyone could answer Xerxes turned to look at Geros, catching him by surprise as he didn't realize the major had been downloaded into his new neural net yet.

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"General, I'm glad you stopped by, perhaps you could answer something for me. What happened to my old chassis, and why, when I suggested several modifications, were my requests denied without explanation? No one will answer any of my questions and it's really starting to irritate me, I'm also missing about six hours of my memories and if anyone has-" Xerxes said.

"Major, calm down," Geros interrupted. The engineers finished the last of their modifications just as Geros finished speaking, when he motioned for everyone to leave the room Xerxes began to look around suspiciously as he snapped a small panel on his left forearm shut. "Geros, what's going on?" Xerxes asked. The door closed with a small 'whish' as the last of the scientists and engineers left the room, once they were alone he turned to face his friend, "Xerxes," Geros began, "those six hours of memories aren't missing, they were corrupted beyond recovery and had to be purged."

"Corrupted, how, by what?" Xerxes asked.

"Maverick coding, you were attempting to track down a mole who had been leaking information to the rebels when you were somehow infected. I can't be entirely sure but I think a message you found had been booby trapped, I tried to retrace your steps but the messages seems to have erased itself as well as all trace of its existence," Geros said. There was a long moment of silence as Xerxes absorbed what he had just been told, "I see, so what... happened, while I was corrupted," he said.

"The maverick coding took control of your chassis and it... forced you to kill sixty-seven beings in Cafe Plaza. That's why your modification requests were denied and I asked to be the one to tell you about this personally," Geros said. For a time Xerxes just stood there looking at Geros not saying anything, it was easy to see that he was thinking about what he'd just been told. "I want to see the security footage," Xerxes said.

"Xerxes, you don't have to-" Geros said.

"I want to see it!" Xerxes said cutting him off.

Without further objection Geros walked over to one of the work stations in the lab and began typing on the control panel at high speed, accessing the security camera footage for Cafe Plaza during the time in which Xerxes had attacked he replayed it from the very beginning. The screen was also split into four sections replaying the same scene from different angles. The plaza, a three sided circle of small eateries for humans with tables arranged in a neat grid formation, the two of them watched as both humans and reploids went about their business, some standing in line at various stalls waiting to order, eating, or just sitting down and casually talking... then Xerxes appeared. Without word or warning he shifted his right forearm into its plasma buster configuration and began to fire into the plaza, the first shot struck a man standing in line killing him instantly, then the major's plasma buster shifted slightly as people screamed and others began to run. His next volley of shots were smaller, in rapid succession, and seemingly random in their targeting striking both citizen and building. Everyone in Cafe Plaza began running in almost any direction they could trying in vein to escape the carnage when four local security officers who had been patrolling nearby, appeared on scene moments later.

Two of the younger security officers foolishly tried to tackle Xerxes and were immediately killed for their efforts either, one with point blank plasma buster shot to the chest, the other with a broken neck. The two remaining officers knowing civilian security forces weren't designed to handle military grade reploids called for backup while taking shelter in nearby buildings as they shot at the major from a distance. Xerxes wasn't even paying them any attention as the shots from their pistols ricocheted off his armor, he seemed intent on trying to destroy Cafe Plaza itself after having killed dozens of beings. The carnage continued for several minutes until Geros suddenly appeared on camera. "Xerxes! What the hell are you doing?" As calmly as someone watching a normal holo-vid the two stood there as the scene between Geros and Xerxes played out, when it finally finished the general pressed a button on the control panel turning the display off. There was another long silence before the major let out a sigh, "Am I under arrest?" Xerxes asked.

"No, I talked with the Judge Advocate General, there's enough evidence to prove that you were corrupted and forced to act against your will, they won't be filing charges against you," Geros said.

"So what now?" Xerxes asked.

"I'd suggest taking a week or two off, get your head together while things cool down, then resume your duties," Geros said.

"Just take a break and go back to work, are you serious?" Xerxes asked.

"What's the problem? If you're worried about what people might say just lay low at work, you are in charge of covert ops after all, it's what you do best," Geros said.

"You just don't get it do you? When I walk down the street what do you think people are going to see, maverick coding or the reploid that butchered their friends, family, and loved ones?" Xerxes said.

"I'm standing here right now and all I see is Major Xerxes," Geros said turning the face Xerxes.

"You really should get out more, maybe get an actual life outside work," Xerxes said.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Geros asked.

"Humans Geros, they're not like us, they can't just turn off their emotional subroutines like we can. They have to cry, suffer, and hurt no matter what. Regardless of what anyone may say about what happened there are going to be people who blame me for this, people who may want revenge. Even if that doesn't happen this incident has destroyed any confidence the public may have had in me," Xerxes said.

"Alright, so what now?" Geros asked.

For a long time Xerxes stood there, thinking, calculating, processing, weighing odds, probabilities and statistics. The major already had a good idea about what was going to happen as well as what he was going to do, all of his calculations only reinforced what this decision. He was surprised that it didn't seem to bother him as much as he thought it would.

"I would imagine they want to debrief me," Xerxes said.

"Of course, they've already seen copies of your memory engrams, security video footage, your systems have been diagnosed and analyzed, but they'll still need first hand testimony. You didn't answer my question though, what do you plan to do now?" Geros asked.

"I'm resigning my commission effective immediately," Xerxes said.

Now it was the general's turn to stand there and stare. He really had no idea what Xerxes was going to do but this was pretty low on his probability scale, by resigning his commission the major was effectively ending his career in the military. For two decades he had served in the military, seven of those as the head of covert operations, now... all of that was gone.

"Okay so I'm starting to repeat myself, but what now? You've served as a military reploid since you were first activated," Geros said.

"I really don't know, to be honest it's a bit exciting," Xerxes said.

"Actually I was referring to employment," Geros said.

"I don't think I will, at least not right now anyway. I've got about two-hundred thousand in the bank, I think I'll explore for a while, wander around, see what's out there so to speak," Xerxes said.

The entire situation was actually a bit confusing to Geros, he couldn't imagine a life outside the military, it was everything to him. He not only excelled at his work, he also harbored a secret desire he had never even told Xerxes about. It was his hope that the destruction of the rebellion would propel him forward in the view of the public enough to run for president during the next election. For almost a decade now he had wanted to become the first reploid elected to the office of president, there had been others who had tried in the past, albeit poorly. The problem was none of them had the career, public support, or political connections that he did, as a result they rarely garnered more than five percent of the popular vote. Before he left Geros stopped, looking back at Xerxes he just shook his head a little as his friend walked up next to him. "Geros, get a life," Xerxes said, putting an arm around the general's shoulders as he stood next to him.

"We've already been over this, I have a life," Geros said.

"Oh do you? When was the last time you had someone came to visit you at your house for something not work related?" Xerxes asked.

"Three years, four months, seventeen days," Geros said.

"Exactly, you really need to get a life outside work. Make some more friends, have fun and cut loose for once," Xerxes said.

"I programmed my CPU and neural net to require minimal diversions," Geros said.

"You programmed yourself not to have fun, seriously? Come on, even I like a good fieldball game on the weekends. I also know that despite your claims to the contrary, you're afraid," Xerxes said.

"Don't be absurd, I'm not afraid of anything," Geros said, looking at Xerxes.

"And I'm about to sprout wings and fly out of here. You're afraid of losing people, and you're afraid of the pain it's going to cause when their gone," Xerxes said. There was a long silence at the two looked at one another, Geros was at a loss for words because he knew Xerxes was right. He had withdrawn from socializing a long time ago because the people he loved and cared about continued to die while he didn't, he had closed himself off from the world around him, the fact Xerxes was so good at noticing things that weren't obvious was really starting to tick him off right now.

"You know, you don't seem very torn up over this while Cafe Plaza situation," Geros said.

"Should I be? I didn't willingly kill those people, just like you said I was forced to act against my will. It would be pretty pointless to obsess about something I had no control over. Now stop trying to change the subject Geros," Xerxes said.

"Assuming you're right, what's it matter you?" Geros said.

"What's it matter to... Geros, it's me Xerxes you're talking to here. How long have we known each other, twenty years? You're not just my best friend, you're like a brother to me. You took me under your wing when I was first activated, taught me almost everything you knew, you've even written programs specifically for me," Xerxes said. Again Geros didn't respond, although it wasn't surprising, he was never the type to be very outwardly emotional. "So why all the song and dance?" Geros asked.

"Because, from what I've seen I'm about the only friend you've got. I don't want you to sit around collecting social dust when I leave. You don't have to say anything, just listen. I know it hurts to lose people, hell we've all lost someone we care about, but if you keep yourself hidden away from the world you're going to end up living a very lonely life in the end," Xerxes said, with a slap on the back he pointed at Geros on the way out, "think about it. Anyway I have a debriefing to go to... good thing I don't wear boxers."

The general just grumbled to himself a little as his friend walked off down the hall, he had more important things to worry about than his personal life. He was about to leave when he was interrupted yet again by an incoming transmission, it was an unmanned scout he had deployed to monitor Zergos for any signs of activity. Opening the line he received a real time video transmission, the scout unit was holding high orbit above the city focused on three individuals who were walking through the streets, he immediately recognized the blond haired young man, the other two appeared to be new recruits. After the discovery of the black box he had a feeling the young man would eventually return and he was right... now to see how intelligent he was. This immediately peaked his curiosity as they appeared to be having some sort of conversation, patching into the scout's directional microphone he decided to listen in on what they were discussing.

"...are we going Daniel?" Kalista asked.

"It's not far, just a short distance ahead of us," Daniel said, pointing ahead of them. They continued to walk through the streets of the city as Geros, after all this time, finally learned the name of the young man who had caused him so many problems up to this point... Daniel. In less than two minutes they arrived at the location of where the stasis chamber had been located before it had been moved. Daniel stopped as soon as he saw the chamber was missing, he stood there with one foot propped on a destroyed section of wall as he looked around, his friends moved into the building as well, all looking at the section of flooring where the chamber used to sit. The noticeable discoloration made it obvious that something had been moved.

"It's gone," Tau said.

"That much is fairly obvious," Daniel said.

"You think scavengers got to it?" Kalista asked.

"I doubt it, did you notice the tracks as we came into the city?" Daniel asked.

"No, I was checking out the city," Kalista said.

"Tau?" Daniel asked.

"Incredible..." Tau said.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"The last time I was in Zergos it was a city of some five-thousand people. Now... it's nothing more than the ghost of a massive metropolis. What could have happened here I wonder, a war maybe?" Tau asked, still glancing around.

That last little blurb most certainly caught Geros' attention, he quickly referenced the city's archives checking the census records to see when Zergos had a population as small as five thousand people. Due to the large number of wars in the past information such as this was spotty at best, the only information available dated back over two-hundred and fifty years ago when the population was recorded at just over eight-thousand. That single comment caused considerable interest on the part of the general, as far as he knew there were only two reploids still alive today over one-hundred fifty years old, if what this Tau had said was accurate he was possible the oldest reploid alive. His chassis looked new though... probably an upgrade he concluded. He was about to focus on Daniel against when his neural net produced a probability that was very intriguing. Not only did this Tau individual seem to have something of a reptilian design to him, especially his skin, the recent sale of the Snakeman chassis to the museum... according to his calculations the possibility of this Tau individual was Snakeman was 68.7%. While the historical significance was a point of interest he quickly discarded that line of thought for now turning his attention back to Daniel.

"I don't think scavengers got to the stasis pod, on the way into the city I noticed tank treads. that combined with the stasis chamber missing can only mean one thing... Geros," Daniel said.

"How do you know that?" Kalista asked.

"Think about it, the only vehicles that use treads anymore are platforms too heavy for hover systems, large scale construction equipment, some of the larger military weapon systems, and heavy transports. That stasis chamber was pretty big, and from a visual analysis, likely weighed several tons. It wasn't made out of modern light-weight materials like most stasis chambers, I would imagine that it was old even when I was placed inside of it," Daniel said.

"Yes, but how do you know it was Geros?" Kalista asked.

"Because, ever since I encountered him after tagging along with the rebels, he's had a serious obsession with me. It's driving him nuts not knowing exactly what I am... for that matter it's driving me nuts as well," Daniel said with a sigh, "I need that black box."

Geros smiled to himself mentally, his decision to deploy an aerial scout was producing a treasure trove of information, this Daniel character had been inside the chamber as he suspected, he was looking for the black box, and he had managed to put the pieces together as to where it was, which meant he would no doubt come looking for it, and soon.

"So what now?" Tau asked.

"We go to Neo Arcadia and get the box," Daniel said.

"Right, so what are we going to do, just go knock on the front gates and ask politely? They think we're rebels, they probably have an SOS out on us," Kalista said.

"SOS?" Daniel asked.

"Shoot on sight," Kalista said.

"That's true," Tau said, "doubt they'd believe we told Jen and the others to shove off after that last little heist of theirs."

Geros noted that he was also right about his recent revelations that this Daniel individual had ended up with the rebels by accident, he also chuckled a little regarding Jenaviv and her two companions. The entire situation regarding the transport had been a set-up with a two fold purpose, it not only confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a mole inside the city, the entire situation was a trap to draw out the remaining rebels. Not even two hours after they had hijacked the transport they had been captured, arrested, and were currently sitting in a jail cell awaiting trail. Now he just had to wait and listen to figure out how they were going to try to get into the city and reach the black box.

"How are we going to get a hold of this black box, we don't even know where it is," Tau said.

"N.A.R.I." Kalista said.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"N.A.R.I. it stands for Neo Arcadian Research Institute, it would be there if anywhere," Kalista said.

"Okay, we still have the problem of figuring out how we're going to get into the city," Tau said, "from what I've heard Neo Arcadia is a fortress, a fortress with a very large army no less."

"There are four main entrances to the city, north, south, east, and west, all are heavily guarded by both local security and automated defense. The walls surrounding the city are also defended by exceptionally powerful, rapid fire weapon systems capable of targeting both ground and air. The only other entrances into the city is the sewer system, being a maintenance system it's likely unmonitored and lightly guarded," Kalista said.

"You know for someone with no memories your sure seem to know a lot," Daniel said.

"I have a lot of information stored in my neural net including a complete layout of the city and the sewer system, security protocols, there's a lot now that I think about it," Kalista said.

Now things were getting really interesting, a reploid with no memory, but access to classified information. The odds of that being a coincidence were marginal at best, there was more at play here than was readily visible, but without further information any calculations on the general's part would be far fetched at best. The female reploid was right, to a degree, the sewer systems had been lightly secured until he had convinced the president to put forth a plan to authorize funding for the installation of cloaked mini-cameras throughout the entire sewer system, for the sole purpose of monitoring anyone who tried to infiltrate the city. It seemed the black box was just as valuable to Daniel as he had anticipated.

"Then I guess we're heading into the sewers, Kalista can help us find the N.A.R.I., we'll go in by night after everyone's gone home for the evening and search for the black box then. If we run non-stop it should only take about a day to reach Neo Arcadia on foot," Daniel said.

Now that they had a plan Geros watched as the group made their way north through the city, the rest of their conversation had little bearing on the matter at hand, he was however quite satisfied to know exactly what they were planning to do and how they wanted to do it. He continued to monitor them until they were out of range of the aerial scout, then immediately opened a line to the day shift commander of the city's military base, a Col. Hubert Patterson, there was a brief delay before the man answered. He was seated behind a desk in his office working with some papers.

"Col. Patterson, go ahead," Hubert said.

"Colonel, I want you to assemble a small team of men tomorrow morning and have them ready to move out. I've just come into possession of extremely reliable information that a trio of individuals are going to try to infiltrate the city," Geros said.

"Wouldn't that fall under the jurisdiction of local security?" Hubert asked.

"Normally yes, but these three are exceptionally dangerous and I don't believe local security has the training or firepower to handle this," Geros said.

"I'll get right on it," Hubert said.

After the line closed Geros made his way out of the N.A.R.I. building, walking through the pristine streets and manicured lawns of the city he devoted nearly all of his CPU and neural net to how he was going to handle the upcoming situation. He paid little mind to the throngs of people going about their daily business, he still wasn't entirely sure how things were going to play out. There was no doubt that he would have to face off against Daniel again, he just hoped it wouldn't turn into another episode similar to his confrontation with Xerxes. If the boy was willing to talk, and listen, they might be able to resolve the situation without shots being fired or blood being shed. The rebellion was entirely crushed now, the last of the stragglers had been captured, and the survivors arrested or killed. The boy however was a rogue element that needed to be addressed, if for no other reason than to make sure he wasn't a threat to Neo Arcadia and its people. Continuing on his way Geros turned down several streets until the came to the main office of Neo Arcadia's local security forces. The civilian law enforcement was housed in a large building made of white stone with twenty-seven steps leading up to two large glass doors. The building sat on five acres of land surrounded by neatly trimmed hedges and lawns of verdant green grass, there were a number of windows scattered in an almost hap-hazard design across the front, but there general knew it was due to security concerns that many of the rooms and offices had no windows. Behind the main building to the left was the hover car parking lot/garage, a fenced off area with a large blue metal building at the back of the paved enclosure. There were four open garage doors where mechanics were working on vehicles while the remaining patrol cars, blue and black in design with a ridge of red lights mounted across the top sat, waiting quietly until they were needed.

Behind the main building to the right was a large octagonal, three story building of white stone with barred windows, a twenty foot high security fence topped with laser wire, and patrolling security officers. Although not technically a jail, the building did house criminals that were awaiting transfer to proper detention and re-education facilities so appropriate security precautions were needed. Geros made his way up the steps into the main lobby of the building, a small room with a pair of glass doors against either wall, to the left was the waiting area where a few people were seated waiting to speak with a security officer for whatever reason they might be here, to the right, the direction the general walked, was a small square security room separating the lobby from the rest of the building. There was a single plasteel door directly ahead of the first with a security office to the left, behind weapon resistant glasteel there was a middle-aged woman with short blond hair in a blue and black security uniform. Normally the woman in the security office would have just buzzed the general through allowing him to continue on his way, however with his new chassis it was doubtful she'd recognize him. In light of this he transmitted his security clearance to her work station, once his identity was confirmed the woman pressed a button on the control panel next to her. There was an audible buzzing sound indicating the lock on the security door had been released allowing Geros to continue on his way.

The next room was a large, square, well lit area filled with desks where both human and reploid security officers tended to their normal duties, some answering phones, others filing paperwork, while others were discussing matters with concerned citizens. Along the walls there were several doors leading to other hallways, but for now they were of no concern to Geros. At the far end of the room was the security captain's office where a heavy set human with red hair, mustache, and also the victim of considerable hair loss, was seated behind his desk talking with a security officer who sat across from him. He made his way through the middle of the room between the numerous desks, upon approaching the captain's office he looked over at a male reploid in a blue/black security chassis, who was filing a report at his desk terminal. "Would you please tell Captain Richards that General Geros is here to see him," Geros said. The reploid looked up for a moment, then nodded, standing from his desk he walked over to captain's office knocking on the door before opening it as he stuck his head inside. "Sir, General Geros is here to see you," he said. This caused both the captain and the security officer to look at him, the captain nodded the young woman he was speaking with and stepped outside as she left, dressed in a pair of black slack and short sleeved business shirt, the heavy set, older man smiled broadly. "General, this is an unusual surprise, what can I do for you today?" Richards asked.

"Let's step into your office captain, there's something I need to speak with you about," Geros said motioning to the office.

"Of course," Richards said, stepping back into his office. Geros closed the door behind them, drawing the shades while the captain took a seat behind his desk. "Have any of my men stepped on military toes again?"

"No, not at all," Geros said, "I've recently come into possession of some information I need to discuss with you due to the nature of the threat it poses to city security." That explanation got a rather concerned look from the captain, though before the general continued he patched into the holo-projector in the captain's desk displaying a photo of Daniel, Tau, and Kalista. "The information I received is that, most likely by tomorrow night, these three individuals will attempt to use the sewer systems to try and infiltrate the city," Geros said.

"And local security will go by standard protocols, when they exit the sewers we'll be waiting for them. If they can't provide proper identification and a reason for being in the sewers we'll detain them for questioning," Richards said.

"No captain, you won't," Geros said.

"Excuse me general?" Richards asked.

"We're not dealing with ordinary reploids here captain, these individuals are armed and extremely dangerous," Geros said, then pointed to the picture of Daniel, "especially that one. I believe him to be in possession of a state of the art military grade chassis. The first time I encountered him he ripped the plasma buster off my scout chassis." Even though he knew Daniel wasn't a reploid, for the sake of this explanation and not having to dance around classified material he presented him as such to the captain. "So what do you want us to do?" Richards asked.

"I'm already aware of where they're going and why, I want your men to monitor their movements when they enter the sewers and report directly to me, when they surface I'll be waiting for them with my men captain," Geros said. It was obvious by the expression on Captain Richard's face that he didn't like having the military just walk in and take over operations that were normally under his jurisdiction, but as they had the authority to do so there wasn't much he could say about it. "So what do you want us to do in the meantime?" Richards asked.

"Nothing, for now... we wait," Geros said.


	14. Chapter XIV

Under the cover of night Daniel, Tau, and Kalista stood more than a mile outside Neo Arcadia observing the city. The gate they could see from their position, the south gate, stood open, though it was guarded by at least a dozen local security officers. The limited view of the city that it offered was of streets illuminated by tall lamps, almost all of the buildings were darkened as everyone had gone home for the night as the city slept. Like his two other reploid companions Daniel wasn't fatigued in the slightest from the non-stop run between Zergos and their current location, now it was just a matter of sneaking into the city and recovering the black box before anyone knew what was going on. Convinced that the black box held all of the answers he was looking for, Daniel was determined to get it back, ever since he had first woken up in Zergos these questions had been nagging at him, and now, now he was less than a few miles from those answers and he wasn't about to let Geros or anyone else stand in his way.

"So how do we get into the sewer system?" Daniel asked.

"The closest entrance is about a half mile in that direction," Kalista said, pointing to the northwest.

It didn't take Daniel long to switch to night vision and magnify his line of sight in the direction Kalista was pointing. Unless someone was aware of the fact a sewer entrance was being guarded it would have looked as though a small guard station had been set outside the city at a seemingly random location. The small metal building with windows on all four sides, accommodated a trio of guards in blue/black uniforms, the top half of their outfit was divided directly down the middle with blue on the left, and black on the right, the design on the pants had been reversed with black on the left, blue on the right, all separated by a belt around the waist. There were several small pouches on the belt, one with a particle pistol sidearm, another with a small communicator, and several others that were entirely enclosed preventing Daniel from seeing inside. All of this was topped off with a pair of solid black boots that came half way up the guard's shins. Currently there was one guard inside the station, another stood outside looking as though he was about to fall asleep, the third was leaning against the side of the building smoking a cigarette.

"Thermal imaging indicates all three guards are human, judging from the lack of enthusiasm for their work it shouldn't be hard to surprise and disable them," Daniel said.

"How you wanna handle this?" Kalista asked.

"Three sided assault, we'll hit them from three different directions, by the time they realize what's happening it'll be all over," Daniel said.

After that he motioned for Kalista and Tau to head in two separate directions as he positioned himself for a head on charge. *Keep to internal transmissions* Daniel told the both of them. Waiting for the others to get ready he prepared himself for the assault on the guard post by breathing deeply and clearing his mind, once in position the others signaled that they were ready with a simple beep over their communicators. *Now!* Daniel said. Like a bolt of lightning he surged forward as fast as his legs would carry him, in roughly 1.7 seconds he went from a dead stop to fifty-three miles an hour, appearing in front of the guard station with such speed the man inside didn't even know what was going on until Daniel had already punched through the glass grabbing him by the front of his uniform. He jerked the man through the the shower of glass shards slamming him to the ground, focusing his attention on the target in front of him he ignored the two other muted scuffles behind him. With a single strike to the side of the head he rendered the guard unconscious, once he man was out cold he stood up again looking behind him. Tau was standing over the guard who had been smoking, he was now sprawled out on his back on the ground. The guard next to Kalista was something of a more interesting position, he was face first in the dirt with his butt sticking up in the air and his arms underneath him.

*Alright Kalista, you take the lead,* Daniel said.

With a nod she walked over to the cross-hatched metal grate leading into the sewer, grabbing hold of it with her hands she wrenched it loose to the sound or groaning metal giving way under the force of reploid hands. Casting it aside she jumped down into the darkness below, Tau followed after her with Daniel bringing up the rear. All parties involved were thankful for the fact there were raised walkways along the side of the sewers, after all walking through the disposed muck of Neo Arcadia wasn't exactly a very appealing thought.

*I don't know about you, but I'm glad I can deactivate my olfactory sensors,* Tau said.

*Olfactory sensors, Tau you don't even have a nose,* Kalista said.

*Maybe not, but I still have olfactory sensors,* Tau said.

Kalista had looked back in Tau's direction briefly when she shifted her focus to Daniel, Tau looked back as well, the both of them observed him standing there holding his nose. *What?* Daniel asked.

*You can't deactivate you olfactory sensors?* Tau asked.

*Technically yes, but as I still don't have a schematic readout for my systems I decided not to mess with them too much. Last thing I want to do is try to turn off my sense of smell and end up going blind by accident,* Daniel said.

He scowled slightly when Tau and Kalista snickered to themselves but left it alone as they began walking through the sewers. Being that this was the first time Daniel had ever seen the inside of a sewer he carefully studied everything as he walked along regardless of how disgusting it might be, although he couldn't even begin to guess what several of the larger pieces of debris that floated by were. The lighting inside the sewer system was poor and the smell was enough to nearly make him wretch even with his nose plugged.

*How far is the NARI building? I don't know how much longer I can take this smell,* Daniel said.

*It's about a mile and a half from our current position,* Kalista said.

That caused Daniel to start grumbling to himself, another mile and a half of unrelenting stench. He tried to distract himself by imagining what might be held in the black box he was after, answers hopefully. After all this time he was tired of playing the guessing game, speculation was getting old, although deep down he hoped he hadn't been designed as a weapon of war, his basic construction appeared to put him on par with top tier military reploids like Geros, his personality didn't seem to match. He wasn't normally aggressive or hostile, in truth he didn't like conflict or war, he considered himself a peaceful person by nature who only used violence when he was forced to do so... or when someone managed to really piss him off. The others were oddly silent as they walked along, though it was likely nervousness, after all they were trying to sneak into the most heavily armed city on Earth. Had it not been for Daniel's reploid mentality it would have been easy for someone to get lost in here, all of the tunnels looked the same, even the echo caused by the water running between the walkways had the same pitch. Keeping the silence as Kalista and Tau walked along they moved through the sewers for what seemed like an eternity, then the party came to a stop.

*Up there,* Kalista said, *this exit should put us directly behind the N.A.R.I. building.*

There was a single metal ladder leading up to a circular sewer cover made of solid metal, Kalista placed a finger over her lips motioning for the others to keep quiet. Carefully grabbing the ladder with both hands she took several steps up placing her hand on the sewer cover, she began to push up ever so gently when the sewer cover seemingly moved of its own accord. What Daniel heard next was the sound of ten particle rifles cocking followed by three plasma busters powering up. "Oh snap," Kalista said. Tau quickly moved to the other side of the ladder trying to see what was going on as Daniel flanked Kalista's left side looking up into thirteen weapon mounted flashlights. Even filtering the light from his vision it was hard to see the people who had their weapons trained on Kalista.

"Geros, that you?" Daniel asked.

"Good to see you again Daniel, mind coming topside for a little chat?" Geros asked.

"Depends, will I survive this little discussion?" Daniel asked.

"Considering our previous encounters the weapons are merely a precaution, you have my word I won't fire without just cause to do so," Geros said.

"That promise would be a little more convincing not coming from the barrel of a weapon," Daniel said. Following a long and tense pause from both sides, the weapons Geros and his men had trained on Kalista could be heard powering down as she let out a loud sigh of relief. The three of then crawled out of the sewer cautiously, still surrounded by Geros and the dozen soldiers he had brought with him. Save for a pair of reploids with chassis designs similar to Geros the ten soldiers were arrayed in the same green body armor as those that had assaulted the rebel base, carrying high powered particle rifles even Daniel knew they would be able to cut him down in a split second if he tried anything funny.

"How did you know we were coming?" Daniel asked.

"I'm a general, it's my job to know," Geros said.

"So, is this the part where you arrest me?" Daniel asked.

"For what?" Geros asked.

"Being a rebel, killing Neo Arc soldiers, probably several other charges I'm not aware of yet," Daniel said.

"You would have to be a rebel first. Admittedly when I first saw you with the others I did think you were a rebel, but later on when I reviewed the all of the evidence it changed my perception of you. The stasis chamber, the fact that the mechaniloids didn't consider you a valid target until you fired on them, and several other factors brought me to the conclusion that through your ignorance of what was going on, you ended up being caught in the crossfire of our war. Even in our encounters I... was the aggressor, I attacked you, and you were just defending yourself," Geros said.

"Thank you," Daniel said.

"I know why you're here as well. You want the black box that was inside the stasis chamber," Geros said.

"Yes I do," Daniel said.

"Before we continue," Geros said, holding up a finger, "what the hell are you?"

"I don't know much more than you do, I was hoping the black box would provide me with the answers I was looking for," Daniel said.

"Do you know what's inside? Our scientists have tried scanning it, but it's made out of a type of material we've never encountered before and our sensors can't penetrate it," Geros said.

"I know it contains files I need to answer the question you just asked me, but as to the exact contents, no I don't know what's inside the box," Daniel said.

Geros started to turn to walk away, then looked back at Daniel, "You're not going to go ballistic on me are you?" he asked.

"You have my word I, or my friends, won't attack without just cause to do so," Daniel said.

With a nod Geros dismissed the dozen soldiers he had brought with him to greet Daniel, although he knew it was a considerable risk to do so, he was also aware that the contents of the black box was likely something that didn't need to be revealed to anyone that didn't need to know. After the soldiers left, cautiously at first, Geros motioned for the others to follow. He lead them around the front of the N.A.R.I. building which had been locked and secured for the night, moving up the steps he stopped at the main entrance. There he stood in front of the control panel to prevent anyone from seeing the key code he entered, after twelve separate beeps the doors opened with a small swish. "Anyone needs the lights on?" Geros asked, "I'd rather not draw any attention." Everyone responded with a few versions of no, so with that out of the way they continued down the pitch dark corridors until Geros stopped in front of the lab where the stasis chamber was being held. Repeating the same process of standing in front of the panel next to the door Geros accessed the lab allowing the others to enter first. Little had changed since he had talked with Dr. Fields, the stasis chamber was almost completely deconstructed, several of the pieces were laying on various tables in the room with scanners and other tools laying next to them where they had been left, but all in all it looked almost the same.

"Wait here," Geros said.

While the others waited the general made his way to Dr. Fields office, opening the door he walked inside, although he wasn't entirely sure where the black box was he knew it wasn't something that would just be left laying around. He quickly searched through the desk, finding nothing he looked around, then checked behind the two painting against the back wall of the office, behind the second painting he found a medium sized wall safe. "Rather cliche," Geros remarked. Removing the painting he set it down on the floor next to him checking the wall safe, it was a NeoTech government issue model much to his relief. He was relieved because even though he didn't know the access code, being government issue and property of the Neo Arcadian government it meant his security clearance could override Dr. Field's code to access the safe. All it took was a small burst transmission from Geros to cause a clicking sound as the door lock released, there inside the safe was the black box. Removing it carefully he closed the door but left the painting where it was, he knew when Dr. Fields saw this the next morning she would immediately check the safe's access log. The general had made it a point to leave his name in the logs so the doctor would at least know she hadn't been robbed in the middle of the night. Box in hand he left the office closing the door behind him, holding it out for everyone to see as he approached, Geros set it down on a table next to Daniel, "Well, there it is," he said.

Instead of immediately putting his hand on the imprint in the black box, Daniel and the others stood there looking, staring down at the box he was almost giddy with excitement, yet at the same time he was apprehensive. Right there in front of him were all the answers he had been searching for since waking up in Zergos, but... what if they were answers he didn't want to hear, what if he had been created for some reason he would end up rejecting. "Go on Daniel, it'll be okay, we're here for you," Kalista said, placing a hand on Daniel's shoulder. Still a little shaken he slowly raised his hand... and placed it on the imprint in the box. At first nothing seemed to happen, they all waited in anticipation and still nothing happened, just as Daniel was about to remove his hand a single dot of blue/white light appeared above his middle finger. The dot of light carefully followed the outline of Daniel's hand leaving a trail behind it, when it had come full circle completing the image it extended upward toward the top of the box. There the dot became a small blue circle from which a blue/white spray of light sprang forth forming a six inch tall holographic image.

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"Hello Daniel," the image said.

"H-How do you know my name?" Daniel stammered, filled with excitement he stuttered slightly.

"This data module was not only designed to house the rest of the data files I didn't have time to load into your memory, I equipped it with an interactive holographic interface. When you placed your hand on the pad it allowed me to access your memories. It was there that I saw you had chosen the name Daniel for yourself, and I'm sure you have a lot of questions," the image said.

"Who are you?" Daniel asked.

"My name is Dr. Jeremiah Light, but my friends call me Jeremy, I'm one of the people responsible for creating you," Jeremy said.

"Light?" Daniel nearly exclaimed, "are you related to Dr. Thomas Light?"

"Yes, he's my... well let's just say grandfather with a lot of greats in front of it, but yes, I am related to Thomas Light," Jeremy said.

"Please tell me, who am I?" Daniel asked.

"Daniel, I never gave you name. I had planned to let you choose your own name when I activated you," Jeremy said.

"Then why did you stick me in a stasis chamber for a century?" Daniel asked.

"A century?" Jeremy said, "the chamber must have malfunctioned, it was only designed to keep you in stasis for a month at most if I wasn't able to come back for you."

"Not able to come back for me? What happened, why was I put into stasis in the first place?" Daniel asked.

"There was an accident at Light Labs, you see Daniel, you're powered by an artificial gravity singularity. The other scientists at the lab were trying to adapt that same technology that powers you to a larger model for use in power plants, it would have made fusion reactors look like old fashioned nuclear power... had the accident not occurred," Jeremy said.

"You mean I have an artificial black hole in my chest?" Daniel asked, raising both eyebrows this time.

"Essentially yes, but don't worry, it's unstable, the only thing keeping it active is the magnetic containment field surrounding the reactor, it that fails the singularity will simply fall apart until the field is restored, you won't implode," Jeremy said.

Removing his hand from the pad Daniel looked down for a moment as the image remained active, even without his hand. "What am I?" he asked.

"You are the culmination of more than five generations and one-hundred fifty years of research. The project that resulted in your creation was started by my great, great, grandfather, Dr. Luther Light. You are the ultimate fusion of humanity and reploid technology. You see with your predecessors, Mega Man, and Mega Man X, they were both cutting edge technology in their day, but they also shared the same inherent flaw. They were androids, machines, bound by logic, directives, coding, and able to be corrupted," Jeremy said.

"And I'm not?" Daniel asked.

"No, now we've taken everything reploid, and given it to a human being, one capable of making decisions on their own, not bound by logic, statics, directives, or programming. You may have algorithms implanted in your mind that allow it to simulate the speed and processing power of a computer, but you are not bound by it, it does not control you. In the end... you have free will," Jeremy said.

"Will I age?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, that was one thing even the Light family couldn't overcome, but your aging process had been drastically impeded. According to my calculations you'll live somewhere between one-thousand to twelve-hundred years," Jeremy said.

"Why? Why did you create me, was I meant to be a weapon of war? Even now I'm more than a match for any military grade reploid," Daniel asked.

"A weapon of war? Good lord no, Daniel your enhanced abilities were a result of the technology used to create you, not out of a desire to create a weapon. You have weapons yes, but not to wage war, it's a dangerous world out there and you need to be able to defend yourself. Look around you, look at the world Daniel, look at our Earth... it's dying. Unlike those that came before you, you weren't created just to protect man and reploid kind, you were created to protect this world. The countless wars of the past have scarred the planet beyond the ability for it to heal on its own, even in my day, a century ago, everything was dying. It began slowly at first, so slow in fact that no one noticed until birds stopped migrating, fruit stopped blooming, then everything just started to die," Jeremy said.

"But.. what can I do, I'm one person, one person without the means to carry out something like this," Daniel said.

"Place your hand back on the pad Daniel," Jeremy said.

Doing as instructed Daniel placed his hand back onto the pad, as soon as it was a number of files were downloaded into his mind. One showing a schematic of the building where his stasis chamber was located, that was when Daniel learned that there was a facility located almost a quarter of a mile underground. The facility not only had equipment designed for cloning and terraforming, there were also DNA samples from not only every living thing on the face of the planet from the smallest bug to the largest mammal such as an elephant, somehow the Light family had acquired the DNA of hundreds of extinct species as well. The next thing was the codename given to the project which developed and created Daniel... Omega X. Finally the last file to load was a full system schematic as well as a large amount of software, he was about to inspect the files when a system readout screen appeared in his mind.

Loading combat protocols... please wait...

Releasing reactor safety interlocks...

10%... 27%... 44%... 71%... 96%... reactor fully powered...

Nucleogenic phase cannon online...

Gravimetric reinforcement field active...

Bio-plasmic dampening shield ready...

Combat protocols fully loaded... have a nice day...

"Do you understand now Daniel, do you understand why you were created?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes... I understand," Daniel said.

"I realize the magnitude of the burden I've placed on you... but you're all that's left," Jeremy said.

"All that's left, what do you mean?" Daniel asked.

"I had two older brothers, a younger sister, an aunt, and an uncle. About a month before the accident in Light Labs they all died in mysterious accidents, but I believe someone was targeting my family, systematically killing them, and I died in the accident at the lab. If you're watching his recording then it means that whoever was attacking us succeeded, our time has passed and the Light family is no more. You're all that's left Daniel... you are our legacy, our gift to this world," Jeremy said. The look on Daniel's face was one of utter shock, he didn't even know what to say as he stood there looking at the ghost of his creator. It took time for him to gather his thoughts, then when he seemed to be in control of himself again he nodded solemnly, "I won't let you down... father," Daniel said. The image of Jeremiah smiled, then spoke the last words it ever would, "End program." The image disappeared as the entire pad powered down leaving everyone in the room standing there in just staring. It was a long time before anyone said anything, and it was Geros who spoke first.

"Amazing, you're the third Mega Man," Geros said, looking at Daniel.

"It would appear that way yes, although it's Omega X, not Mega Man," Daniel said.

"Uh guys, I think Tau's about to lose it," Kalista said, pointing in his direction. So engrossed in the information regarding Daniel's true identity and purpose they had failed to notice Tau who was looking at a name tag and seeming having a CPU overload in the process. "No... it can't be, it can't... he's dead... he's dead!" Tau exclaimed.

"Tau, are you alright?" Daniel asked.

Storming up to Geros, Tau shoved the name tag in his face, "Are you blind? Can't you see?" he snapped.

"Trebal Yiwl, so what?" Geros said.

"Trebal Yiwl? Trebal Yiwl? Are you so blind you can't see what's been right in front of your face this whole time?" Tau said.

"What are you carrying on about?" Geros said.

"It's an anagram you moron!" Tau snapped.

"Anagram? Anagram for what?" Geros said.

"ALBERT WILY!" Tau yelled.

"Amazing, truly amazing. I still can't believe it took you intellectual neanderthals that long figure out something so simple," a voice said. The entire group instantly turned to see who was addressing them as a single figure stepped towards them.

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"Dr. Wily? That's... impossible," Geros said, it was then he realized that Dr. Yiwl was Wily, only he had shaved his beard and changed his hair style.

"And yet here I stand," Wily said.

"Not for long you don't, you sorry son of a-" Tau snarled, his sentence was cut short when he tried to tackle Dr. Wily only to pass through what turned out to be a holographic projection and slam into the wall behind him. Wily only looked back briefly before turning his attention to Daniel.

"You should consider it an honor to even stand in my presence, the presence of the greatest mind to ever walk the face of the Earth since the dawn of mankind," Wily said.

"The greatest mind on Earth was Dr. Thomas Light you arrogant sociopath," Daniel said.

"Is it now? And where is your vaunted Dr. Light... oh that's right, he's dead... and I'm not," Wily said.

"How did you manage to survive all this time?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, you would like to know that wouldn't you?" Wily said.

"So it was you all along, the one leaking information to the rebels, the one who infected Xerxes with the maverick coding. Were you responsible for starting the war was well?" Geros asked.

"Oh no my dear general, you and yours managed that all by yourselves, although it did help me to move about easier, and yes, I was the one leaking information to the rebels. They served their purpose well, although I allowed the general here to assault their last base without offering them prior warning as to such, after they were no longer of use of course," Wily said, as he walked around the room carefully inspecting everyone.

"And you've been in hiding all this time developing a new maverick code? To what end?" Geros said.

"Hmm?" Wily said looking to Geros, "the maverick coding, it took me ten minutes to write that on my PDA. It was a booby trap design to warn me if someone was getting too close to discovering the truth."

"Don't tell me, let me guess, world domination... again," Daniel said.

"Of course my dear boy, as the most intelligent being alive it is my right, my manifest destiny to become the sole ruler of this world, and everything in it," Wily said.

"Historians were right, you are crazy," Kalista said.

Taking notice of Kalista for the first time Wily walked around her in a full circle once before smiling at her, "Ah yes, Kalista, how have you been my dear?"

"Do I know you?" Kalista said, shrinking away from Wily with an expression of revulsion.

"Doubtful, at least not after I removed your memory chips anyway," Wily said.

"YOU WHAT? It was you, h-how could you, how could you steal my life! Were you the one that gave me that droid job?" Kalista roared. With a coy smile Wily pulled his head back a little, "The memories yes, the droid job no, sorry sweetheart, I prefer my women with a heartbeat. As to why, just like the poor Xerxes, you began sniffing around and came a little too close to finding out things you didn't need to know, so I removed your memory chips and reprogrammed you to act as my spy in the rebellion, to keep tabs on them. That whole droid job fiasco occurred after the fact."

"You.. you didn't destroy my memory chips did you?" Kalista asked, with a look of fear on her face. Now Dr. Wily feigned an expression of hurt surprise, "Destroy them? My dear you of all people should know how I feel about reploids, they're here in the N.A.R.I. building, storage vault twenty two, the access code is four, three, three, seven, nine, six, one, eight, two," they stood there looking at one another for a moment before Dr. Wily shooed her away, "go on now, you may leave." Without another word Kalista took off like a shot for the storage vaults.

"It was you wasn't it, you killed the Light family, and sabotaged the reactor in Zergos," Daniel said.

"Of course, and you were suppose to die with them. It's taken me centuries to move all of the pieces into place to ensure my installation as the ruler of this world. I wasn't about to allow those Light crusaders to create another poster boy for desperation when my plans are so close to culmination. Plans that would have played out a long time ago if that idiot Sigma had eliminated Mega Man X like he was suppose to," Wily said.

"Sigma? What are you talking about, everyone knows he went maverick willing," Geros said.

"Of course he did, or so he thought," Wily said.

"You infected him too?" Geros asked.

"Infect him, oh no, Sigma was already so arrogant all it took was a few remotely transmitted sub-routines to send him over the edge," Wily said.

"Unbelievable, you were responsible for the X wars as well?" Geros said.

"Sigma was only suppose to eliminate Mega Man X, the wars... the wars were an unfortunate side effect of his incompetence and cascading circumstances," Wily said, dismissing the entire situation with a wave of his hand.

With a sigh Daniel shook his head a little, "Doesn't this ever get old? You tried to conquer the world what, ten, fifteen times, only to be sent scurrying back to your little hole in the ground when you failed... miserably."

It was obvious to see by Wily's expression that Daniel had struck a nerve, but he maintained his calm, he was about to say something when a sharp turn of his head brought his attention to Geros, "Oh please, stop trying to trace this transmission, you techno-infants will never find me." Then looking back to Daniel he carefully raised his hand pointing a finger at him, "Don't you see, that's the problem with lower life-forms such as yourself, you can't see the grand design, the big picture. Do you think I'm blind, that I can't see what the innumerable wars of the past have done to this planet, do you think that I don't know the Earth is dying. Once I take my rightful place as ruler of this world, war, famine, disease, poverty, all of these things will cease to exist. The world will be once more be one with itself. No longer will man, or reploid kind be torn apart by war, or differing ideologies, no longer will they kill one another over resources, or land. I will usher in a new area of unimaginable peace and prosperity, a utopia unlike anything this world has ever seen. I am living proof that even death itself need but be a dim, faded memory in the new age, the age of Wily."

"Lovely speech doc, so tell me, how many hundreds, or even thousands of people have to die for your utopia?" Daniel asked.

Wily just held his arms out shrugging a little, "You know what they say, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Now I want you to listen, and listen well because I will only make this offer once." Extending his arm towards Daniel, Dr. Wily held an open hand out to him, "Join me Daniel, join me and once this world is mine I will share the power with you. I will give you an entire continent of your choice to rule... in my name of course. After hearing the words of Jeremiah I see now that you are the only one worthy of sitting at my right hand, you only need a little guidance. I warn you to choose your next words wisely because, you can either sit at my right hand, or be crush underfoot by the magnificence that is my genius."

Looking up at the ceiling for a moment Daniel tapped his chin, "What's that expression I'm looking for? Oh now I remember." Holding his fist toward Dr. Wily he extended his middle finger, "Sit and spin you old crackpot." Lowering his arm Wily shook his head a little, "A shame, you could have been a part of the new world, but now you'll be but a footnote in history, just like your creator."

"And what makes you think I'll just stand by and let you take over the world?" Daniel said.

"You got that right!" Geros added.

"Count me in," Tau said.

"Because none of you will live to see tomorrow I'm afraid," Wily said. With his hands behind his back the doctor walked towards the door of the lab, then just as the his image began to fade he raised a hand waving slightly, "It was good to see you again Snakeman." Before any of them had time to react the ground under the N.A.R.I. building began to rumble, as if being struck by an earthquake. "What the hell is going on?" Geros asked.

"Trouble," Daniel said, "big trouble."


	15. Chapter XV

"Give me a sit-rep, now!" Geros said. Having up-linked directly the military base in Neo Arcadia the general demanded a situation report as he, Daniel, and Tau dashed out of the N.A.R.I. building, followed shortly thereafter by Kalista. "We don't know sir, it's coming from the abandon section of the city," a young man's voice said. For the benefit of everyone there Geros had externalized the audio only communication so it could be heard. "Give me a video feed," Geros said.

"We can't, none of the security cameras in the abandon sector are working," the young man said.

"Wily," Geros grumbled, "follow me!"

With the speed one would expect from a reploid the four dashed through the streets of Neo Arcadia, weaving through the slowly gathering crowds of people who were beginning to filter out of their homes to see what all the commotion was about. The group eventually passed through the northern gate of the city coming to a stop in what looked almost like another version of Zergos. Old, derelict buildings stood just beyond the northern wall of the town, in states of considerable disrepair many of them were missing walls, windows, even entire floors had begun to crumble giving way to what looked like decades of neglect and exposure to the elements. "What the hell happened here?" Daniel asked, looking around at the buildings. "This is the other half of Neo Arcadia, destroyed during the last Zero War a century ago," Geros said. Daniel, Geros, and the others began to look around for the source of the tremors, then in one terrifying moment, it stood up.

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More than thirty feet tall the towering war machine loomed over Neo Arcadia, even taller than the defensive walls that protected the city the titan seemed to stand motionless for a moment. Several sections of the gigantic machine shifted for a moment, then it turned it's head toward the city. "Geros to main administration, Neo Arcadia is under siege, repeat, Neo Arcadia is under siege, deploy all soldiers, weapon platforms, aerial assault vehicles, and bring all city defenses online. Begin evacuating all citizens and non-essential personnel to safety shelters, NOW!" Geros said. The general had just finished rallying the troops when the war machine raised the gun on its right arm towards the city feeding power into barrel before it fired. Daniel, Tau, and Kalista all turned their heads aside expecting to hear dozens of buildings explode, instead there was a loud 'POOM', when they looked back they could see the residual energy from the blast cascading over an energy shield surrounding the city. Standing tall in the face of his enemy Geros had opened a panel on his left forearm, patching directly into the city's defense systems he had brought the shields online only seconds before impact, "Not on my watch you hunk of junk," the general growled.

"Daniel, the last time we met you said you had on-board weapons, you weren't bluffing were you?" Geros asked. Holding his forearms in front of him Daniel began to feed energy from his reactor into the phase canons in his arms, at first his arms began to glow a dull yellow, as the power continued to build a steady thrumming sound could be heard as arcs of yellow energy began crackling over his arms, "Locked and loaded," he said.

"Tau? Kalista?" Geros asked.

Their response came in the form of Kalista cocking the particle rifle she was holding as Tau shifted his right arm into its plasma buster configuration.

"Good," Geros said, "because the only way that thing is getting into the city, is over my scrapped chassis." The four surged forward toward the war machine after that, able to physically pass through the shield as it was designed to stop energy based attacks and high speed projectiles. The war machine was about to fire on the city again when it looked down seeing Daniel, Geros, Tau, and Kalista all running directly at it. "Primary objective Omega X, located, acquiring target resolution," the war machine said. Several panels in the war machine slid open revealing at least two dozen smaller guns and missile launchers, all of which fired at Daniel. "Oh snap," Daniel said. As soon as the war machine attacked the party everyone split up, dashing in different directions they began moving between the crumbling buildings in order to find the best angle of attack... save for Daniel. Cutting a sharp left into an alleyway his main concern was avoiding the hail of missile and particle beam fire being directed at him. In an almost hap-hazard fashion he bounced off the wall of the one of the buildings, having turned so fast he couldn't compensate for all of his momentum. Explosions and falling debris surrounded Daniel on all sides as he tried to evade the relentless assault of weapons, with so much firepower trained in him the collapsing buildings of the abandon section of Neo Arcadia, only provided momentary cover as the war machine continued cutting them to pieces in pursuit of its primary objective.

*Geros, you've got to draw that thing's attention away from Daniel,* Kalista said. Firing her particle rifle at the war machine she tried in vein to get its attention as her shots ricocheted off its armor with no effect. *Kalista, use your plasma buster,* Geros said.

*I don't have one, this isn't a combat chassis,* Kalista said.

From the top of one of the building Geros changed his plasma buster to full capacity unloading a blast into the side of the war machine's head, causing it to jerk slightly the massive weapon looked to Geros. "That's right, over here you bucket of bolts!" Geros yelled. Knowing full well what the response would likely be the general took off running leaping from one rooftop to another as a single massive swing of the machine's arm brought the entire building crashing to the ground. Tumbling onto the roof of a nearby building Geros spun around for another shot only to come face to barrel with the massive weapon mounted on the war machine's right arm, the same weapon it had fired at Neo Arcadia. "Crap..." Geros said.

Until now Tau had been sneaking through the buildings outside the northern section of Neo Arcadia looking for the best way to attack the giant weapon with legs. From the amount of armor that thing had he doubted a simple plasma buster shot would do much damage, therefor he needed to make each attack count. He had just started to move between two buildings when he saw a massive burst of energy from the war machine's right arm as a glowing figure flew off toward the city. "That can't be good," Tau said, *Geros, you still in one piece?* There was an audible groan over Tau's internal communicator before he got his answer, *Mostly... plasma buster's shot, systems are trying to overload... gonna be a minute before I'm back on my feet.*

*How the hell did you even survive a shot like that?* Tau asked.

*Hardened chassis... designed with withstand... frontal assault,* Geros said.

"How... am I going to hurt this thing?" Tau said.

Under normal circumstances when facing a reploid, or human for that matter, blowing a hole in their chest was usually the best way to go, however these weren't normal circumstances. Tau did know enough about reploid, or war machine construction, that he was able to formulate a plan. As the massive machine lumbered by scanning the area for Daniel, Tau focused the energy in his plasma buster into a fine, short range beam. Using his enhanced agility he dashed through one of the alleys leaping off the sides of each wall to gain height, landing on the war machine's shoulder Tau dashed forward jumping down next to the head firing his plasma buster into an unarmored section of the neck. Slicing through several wires, cables, and a pair of servos he was so intent on trying to behead the mammoth machine he failed to notice a chain gun rising out of a shoulder compartment targeting him from behind. Dozens of shots ripped into Tau's back causing him to scream in pain as he slammed into the pavement like a ton of bricks. Laying there in a smoking heap he was barely able to move as he looked behind him, even through static filled vision he could see the war machine raising its foot to stomp on him.

"Not again," Tau said.

Out of the corner of his optical sensor Tau saw a sudden flash of black leather before the world around him began to spin and tumble as he bounced along the ground. With the speed to match his friend Daniel had dashed out of a nearby alley, grabbing Tau he hurling him out of the way just as the war machine's foot slammed into the ground sending chunks of pavement flying in all directions. Albeit it wasn't the most elegant of rescues, it had stopped Tau from being pancaked. Determined to put his new phase canons to the test Daniel turned on his aggressor holding his hands up at it palms out, feeding as much power into his forearms as he could handle a small 'whrrrrrrrm' was followed by a pair of yellow beams ripping through the air. Despite the war machine's slow, lumbering movement it tried to turn away from the shots, it managed to evade the shot aimed for it's torso, instead having it's chest mounted gun sliced off. The second shot impacted the shield mounted on it's left arm, punching through the lower section the energy tore through the machine left hand causing it to explode into a shower of sparks and falling metal debris. 'Warning, low power, reactor at 18%' a status display in Daniel's head warned.

"Whoa, need to take that down a notch. Probably should have read the operator's manual on these things first," Daniel said, looking at his hands.

Even though his reactor would be able to restore full power within a few minutes Daniel knew sinking that much energy into a pair of blasts like that was dangerous. Now that the war machine was focused on him again rather than Tau, Daniel resumed running between buildings to avoid the hail of weapon's fire that was trailing after him. Moment's later the machine's weapons stopped firing, then resumed, only rather than trailing Daniel they were leading him, slamming into the buildings overhead with everything it had he quickly realized the switch in tactics was now in trying to bring the buildings down on his head. There was so many pieces of metal and stone falling that Daniel wasn't able to avoid all of them, trying to cut down another alley to change directions a crumbling section of one of the buildings buried him under a small mountain of rubble. It only took him seconds to smash his way out, with the gravimetric reinforcement field he had active it enabled him to withstand three-hundred percent more blunt force trauma than his already enhanced body could normally endure, but never the less the war machine was slowing him down and closing the distance between them. With his reactor at 22% it would still be a few minutes before he was able to unleash a blast of any magnitude capable of injuring this... thing. In a deafening explosion a missile detonated only a few feet behind Daniel hurling him out into the middle of the main street, that impact had been enough to even rattle him forcing him to blink a few times to clear his head.

*We're getting killed out here Kalista, we need another plan... this isn't working,* Daniel said.

*Duck,* Kalista said.

There wasn't even enough time for him to ask Kalista what she was talking about, leading the loud scream fusion turbine engines overhead the war machine was struck in the chest by volleys of rapid fire missiles as a dozen Neo Arcadian fighter jets soared through the air. The impact was enough to cause the towering titan to groan as it fell over backwards flattening three different buildings in the process.

*Cavalry's here,* Kalista said.

As the war machine tried to get back to its feet the loud 'thoom thoom thoom thoom' of long range artillery firing issued from just outside the city's defensive wall. The artillery fire soared through the air creating an ear piecing scream as it impacted causing a second series of explosions, only when the dust and smoke cleared Daniel saw the machine was now surrounded by an energy shield. Apparently it considered the Neo Arc military enough of a threat to activate all of its defenses, as well as its offensive weapons. Using smaller rapid fire weaponry mounted inside its body in various locations the war machine targeted the jets as they circled around to conduct strafing runs. What concerned Daniel was that despite the immense amount of damage the missile impacts should have done, recognizing by the explosions that they were armed with anti-matter warheads, this seemingly unstoppable juggernaut had little more than a few dents in its armor.

"The hell is this thing made out of?" Daniel said.

"Don't look at me," Relix said.

In a wide eyed double take Daniel looked to his left seeing Sgt. Relix coming running up next to him, armed with a heavy ion launcher he was followed by squad of twenty-four Neo Arcadian commandos in black combat armor, all sporting HILs as well. "Relix?" Daniel.

"Glad to see you too kid, kill now, talk later," Relix said, looking up at the war machine, "alright boys and girls, I want ion launchers on maximum yield, let's take that shield down!"

Were it not for for the fact his phase canons seemed to be the only thing to have done any significant damage to this thing, Daniel was half tempted to let the army fight this monstrosity. Unlike the few cheesy action movies he had seen the Neo Arcadian military was anything but canon fodder, the were well organized, effective, and knew what they were doing. They were attacking from land, air, long range, short range, and even appeared to have a small commando squad tasked with tearing through the energy shield... although where Relix came into all this he still didn't know.

"Relix, I need to get at that thing's head, if I can fire a short range phase burst through its right optical sensor I should be able to take out its CPU," Daniel said.

Having already fired several shots from his HIL in a kneeling position, Relix paused long enough to look over at Daniel, though he didn't know what a phase burst was he did know what taking out the CPU meant. Holding his hand up he snapped his fingers pointing at the war machine, "Pvt. Gresh," Relix said. Daniel turned around to see who this Pvt. Gresh was coming face to chest with a military reploid that looked almost like a miniature scale model of the war machine. "Going up," Gresh said, grabbing Daniel by the shoulder.

"What? Hey wait a- waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Daniel yelled, as he was hurled like a baseball. If nothing else, Gresh was accurate, Daniel came to a stop plastered spread eagle across his target's face visor. "Miss me?" Daniel asked, as both optical sensors focused on him. Landing on the war machine's chest he held his palm out firing a single, powerful phase burst through the right optical sensor causing the war machine to reel back with such force Daniel lost his footing and plummeted to the ground below in a shower of metal and red plasteel. Rather than crashing to the ground in a heap the war machine looked down at Daniel who was staring back expecting it to be destroyed, with most of the right side of its head missing it once again trained the vast array of weapons at its disposal on Daniel unleashing a hailstorm of firepower.

"What the hell?" Daniel yelled as he scrambled to his feet taking off between another pair of buildings.

*Think about it Daniel,* Geros said, *we're dealing with Dr. Wily here. The head is the most sensitive part of a reploid or mechaniloid, people expect all of the vital systems to be located there.*

*You couldn't have imparted me with this gem of wisdom earlier?* Daniel yelled as he continued to run.

*Sorry, the corp of engineers was trying to get put me back together,* Geros said.

Once more the war machine's attention was drawn back to the Neo Arcadian army, Relix and his men had already disappeared into the city to avoid being cut to pieces by weapons fire, only reappearing briefly in random locations to fire off a few rounds before disappearing again, so now they were rolling out the tanks. Loud explosions from turret fire echoed through the city to the steady rumble of tank treads as more heavy weapon platforms were deployed to defend Neo Arcadia. Even though Relix and his hadn't had the chance to completely tear down the war machine's shields with HILs, they had been weakened enough that after several volleys of plasma shells exploded just short of their target, more began tearing through detonating against armor plating. It was in that moment that Daniel finally took notice of something he had ignored earlier. Taking into account the advice Geros had given him, he realized that every time the war machine came under heavy fire it didn't try to shield its head, it shielded the lower left section of its chest.

*Lower left chest, it keep protecting its lower left chest, that's were its vital systems are!* Daniel told Geros.

There was a brief pause in the attack from the tanks, soldiers scattered throughout the city, and trio of remaining fighter jets, despite numerous reinforcements, before they all began focusing their attack on the war machine's lower left chest. In response the metal monstrosity stepped back firing everything it had in the three-hundred sixty degree angle, in an effort to protect itself it blanketed the city within large radius with brilliant beams of light and explosions. Within a single volley of fire nine of the fifteen tanks scattered throughout the main street were reduced to smoldering heaps of burning metal, two more had suffered damage to their main turrets rendering them inoperative, and the remaining four were pulling back in an effort to get out of the kill zone. The other problem Daniel noticed was that despite the massive amount of firepower that had initially struck the lower left section of the chest, it had done little more than leave scorch marks on the armor plating. It only made sense that the most sensitive systems on a war machine would also be the most heavily protected... which gave Daniel an idea. His reactor had managed to restore 44% power, the last time he fired both phase canon's at full power each had drained 41% of his power. If he fired a single one-handed shot he just might be able to weaken the armor for the military to finish the job, but he'd being cutting it close, and he probably wouldn't get a second chance.

*Geros, can you get that thing to move its left arm?* Daniel asked.

*I can try, but that thing has already taken out thirty-three jets, the other tanks won't be in position for another four minutes, you can't fire long range artillery into close combat, and sending infantry after that thing would be suicide,* Geros said.

*Don't you have anything else?* Daniel asked.

*We have aerial bombers but they're slow, they'd get shot down before reaching that thing,* Geros said.

*Deploy the bombers, I'll draw its attention, killing me is its 'primary objective' after all,* Daniel said. There was a long pause before Geros responded, *Bombers are prepping for launch, ETA, three minutes.* With a large sigh Daniel knew this would likely be the longest... or shortest, three minutes of his life. Dashing out into the middle of the street directly in front of the war machine Daniel fired off a quartette of small energy blasts from the palm of his hand, they didn't drain energy from his reactor as they were little more than balls of concentrated light. Their purpose wasn't to damage the goliath, they were meant to get its attention, which they did. With most of the Neo Arcadian military regrouping for another attack Daniel was on his own. He didn't wait for a response from the war machine, as soon at it looked at him with the remaining optical sensor it had, he took off running through what few buildings were left standing in the aftermath of continuing battle. Again dashing through a shower of falling rubble and debris Daniel was doing his best to stay one step ahead of something that was learning as fast as he could run. Now the war machine had focused half of its weaponry at him with the other half a short distance ahead of him, it wouldn't be long before he didn't have anywhere left to run. "How many friggin' missiles does that thing have?" Daniel growled, as several exploded overhead.

So intent on trying not to get blown to pieces Daniel failed to see the gap in the buildings ahead of him until he was already standing out on the open, instinctively pausing to assess the change in his surroundings he knew the second he stopped that he had made a huge mistake. Like a run away locomotive the chain gun on the war machine's left shoulder tore into him from behind, hurling him forward like a rag doll it slammed him through the first three walls of the building ahead. Were it not for his on-board shielding the volley of fire likely would have killed Daniel. 'Warning, bio-plasmic dampening shields at 33%' a status screen displayed. "Oh shut up," he grumbled. Pushing himself up though a section of the ceiling that had collapsed on him after his landing Daniel took a deep breath and growled to himself, "All I've ever wanted to do is mind my own business, I've been shot, nearly stabbed, crushed, treated like a rag doll, mistaken for a rebel, and I've had just about enough." Not even caring anymore Daniel walked through the building to the other side by means of punching through any walls that stood in his way, then slamming his fingers into the outer brick wall he scaled his way to the roof. Flipping over the top he walked half way across looking at the war machine that was scanning the lower levels of the building for him.

"Up here stupid," Daniel said.

Immediately righting itself the machine looked at Daniel for a moment as they stared eye to sensor at one another, then he pointed his finger at it. "I've had just about enough of you, you walking pile of junk. You want a piece of me?" For the second time since he had woken up Daniel was starting to get angry, dashing forward he diverted his reactor's power to his forward shields and stepping up onto the front edge of the building he launched himself at the war machine, "Come get some!" With both shoulder mounted chain guns, the only ones able to acquire a target lock on him at the moment, trained on Daniel the war machine opened fire, dozens of shots stuck all over his body as he flew through the air. Landing just to the left of machine's head the right chain gun was forced to stop firing, with Daniel so close to the left weapon the right was unable to acquire a clear target lock. 'Warning, bio-plasmic dampening shield at 47%, 41%, 35%, 29%' a status display warned as the left chain gun continued to pummel Daniel. Rather than try to find cover he ran directly at the weapon, changing headlong into the oncoming barrage he closed the distance between the two of them with his shield at a mere 6%. With one hand on the barrel of the weapon Daniel flipped over the top landing behind it, as it tried to spin around to acquire another target lock. Motor servos began to whine, and power relays sparked as the weapon had a pair of arms wrapped around it that were pulling up with all their might.

When the war machine realized what was happening it tried to lurched forward, then back, to throw Daniel off, but by this time he had already wedged one of his feet into the opening where the chain was mounted to maintain his balance. In a shower of sparks the weapon was torn loose, grabbing the severed power relay Daniel hooked it into his own reactor firing at the left chain gun. Under fire from its own weapon system the war machine's armor plating proved to be far less effective, the remaining chain gun was reduced to scrap metal in seconds. In his anger Daniel turned the weapon on the left shoulder mounted missile launchers peppering them with particle fire before a series of explosion tore the machine's entire left arm free of its torso. Turning the weapon on the machine's head he fired the chain gun as fast as he could, with metal, wires, and circuits being reducing to cinders the war machine thrashed about wildly as the weapon drilled down through it's internal systems. "Why won't you just DIE?" Daniel yelled. This continued for several seconds until a massive fireball erupted from the lower left section of the chest where the vital systems were located, in that moment everything froze, then in what sounded almost like a large metallic yawn the war machine began to fall backwards. Dust, debris, pavement, metal girders, everything exploded around the hulking machine as it slammed into the ground with a deafening thud. *I wouldn't worry about the bombers,* Daniel told Geros. Relix was the first one to appear on scene, dashing from behind one of the few buildings left standing in the abandon section of town he looked up to see Daniel standing on the war machine's chest still holding the chain gun in his right hand.

"What the hell happened?" Relix asked.

"What do you think happened?" Daniel said, "It pissed me off."

When he finally started to calm down, Daniel tossed the chain gun aside walking across the body of the war machine, hopping down he walked up to Sgt. Relix and just looked at him strangely. "The hell are you doing here, fighting with Neo Arc soldiers of all things?" Daniel asked. With a broad smile Relix offered Daniel his hand, when he took it the Sgt. gave it a hearty shake, "Sergeant Major Nathaniel Relix, Neo Arcadian Covert Operations, nice to meet you."

"You're kidding me, you were a Neo Arc mole?" Daniel said.

"Well duh, who do you think tipped Geros off about where to find the rebel base?" Relix said.

"Wait a minute, what happened to Falk and Quar? Are they dead?" Daniel asked.

"Quar was knocked out by a piece of flying debris during the artillery volley, and somehow in all the chaos Falk managed to surrender, how I don't know," Relix said.

"So they're in jail?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, awaiting trial along with Jenaviv and her band of yahoos," Relix said.

"What's going to happen to them?" Daniel asked.

"They'll likely be sentenced to serve time in a re-education facility, followed by several years in a community service work release program," Relix said.

"They're not going to be tortured, starved, or mistreated are they?" Daniel asked.

"Are you crazy son, what do we look like barbarians? Besides, there are laws against things like that. Re-education facilities were created after the start of the rebellion because it was founded mostly on lies and misinformation spread by power hungry politicians. We try to show people the truth, give them the entire story, not that hack job version the rebel leaders concocted. Neo Arc prisons aren't like criminal justice systems of the past, we don't just throw people in a hole and forget about them, we try to get to the source of the problem through counseling and therapy, that way if they can address the problem and figure out a more constructive, legal solution, they're less likely to re-offend. The government tries to reintegrate people as functional members of society, why do you think we have a repeat offender rate of less than 16%," Relix said.

"And if the re-education fails?" Daniel asked.

"We throw'em in a hole for a long, long time, depending on their crime of course. Hey, we don't like that option, but you gotta do something we criminals that refuse to be rehabilitated," Relix said.

By the time their little discussion had ended Geros, Kalista, and dozens of other soldiers had already appeared on scene, even Tau managed to drag himself out of the alleyway Daniel had pitched him into. Even though the corp of engineers had put the general back together it was easy to see that they were field repairs. He was missing over half of his external armor plating, his left hand was missing, and from the knee down a right leg, not part of the original chassis, had been hot-wired in place. Most of the people gathered there were looking between Daniel and what was left of the war machine, stunned by the fact he had single handed destroyed something that had been fending off the entire Neo Arcadian army until just a few minutes ago, Daniel in turn had a withdrawn, melancholy expression on his face.

"What happened?" Kalista asked.

"He said the thing pissed him off," Relix said.

At first Kalista thought Daniel was just tired from this whole ordeal until she took a closer look at him, the expression seemed to show a lot of pain, but not physical, he seemed upset for some reason.

"What's wrong Danny?" Kalista asked, walking up next to him.

"This... this isn't what I want Kalista. I don't want to be a weapon of war and destruction. It wasn't what I was meant to be, what Dr L... my father wanted," Daniel said.

"I'm a weapon of war Daniel, not you," Geros said, "you've been given an incredible gift and it's up to you how you use it."

"I would say I'm going home, but I don't have a home," Daniel said.

"Don't have a home?" Relix said, clapping an arm around Daniel's shoulder as he walked up next to him, "you just saved Neo Arcadia little buddy, the president himself would probably buy you a home if you asked him to."

"Thanks, but me, in a city full of people... that... wouldn't work out well," Daniel said.

"Where will you go from here?" Geros asked.

"Zergos, there's something else I have to take care of, a promise I made to my father. Although, if you think the president will be in a generous mood, you think you could have him send a construction crew to Zergos? I don't need them to fix up the entire city, but a few habitable buildings would be nice," Daniel said.

"I don't think that'll be a problem," Geros said.

"Good grief Daniel," Relix said looking at the war machine, "remind me never to piss you off."

With a smirk Daniel looked over at him, "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

"Hey Daniel, you got room for one more in Zergos?" Kalista asked.

With a solemn nod of his head he started to walk back towards Neo Arcadia. Tau, who had been propping himself against a wall the entire time, looking like he'd been run through a metal shredder backwards held a hand up, "Taxi," before doing a face plant into the pavement. Daniel stopped, looking at him for a moment, then back to Geros.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of him. Before you go I do have a question though," Geros said, thumbing over his shoulder at the war machine's severed arm, "what is it with you and arms?"


	16. Epilogue

In the underground facilities located a quarter mile below Zergos, built by the light family, one would expect to find a facility of colossal size needed to house all the DNA samples required for the restoration of Earth's biosphere. Instead the entire lab consisted of three large rooms, one with floor to ceiling computer banks containing all of the genetic information on the various species of flora and fauna that had once existed on Earth. Another was filled with terraforming equipment to help with the reseeding and replanting of the lands, and the third was a large cloning facility with vats for growing everything that would be needed in the years to come. Unlike facilities in the past that housed massive banks of genetic material for cloning, the computers located in the main room not only contained the genetic codes needed for the cloning, they also possessed information on how to combine amino acids, proteins, and everything else needed to create DNA from scratch, thereby eliminating the need to house physical samples.

In the aftermath of the battle at Neo Arcadia one would expect Daniel, Tau, and Kalista to be hard at work laying the framework for the massive restoration project ahead of them. Instead they were seated at a small metal table in the middle of the room with no less than four dozen empty bottles of Neo Light spread across the floor, despite the fact none of them could get drunk. Even the mighty Geros, general of the Neo Arcadian army had joined them deciding to 'let his hair down'.

"Nice chassis general, first time I've seen you with an actual face," Kalista said.

Seated at the table with a bottle of Neo Light in hand, the general not only had a new chassis built for himself, this one actually looked human. Complete with a synth-skin covering he had even opted for a model capable of consuming food, although as a social activity as he didn't actually need to eat.

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"Yeah, nice boobs," Geros said.

"I'm surprised with everything going on they let you take some time off Geros," Tau said.

"Pffft, are you serious? I haven't taken a vacation since I was built, I have ninety weeks saved up," Geros said sipping his beer, "they'd probably have a cow if I asked to take them all at once though."

"You can do that?" Daniel asked, tossing an empty bottle over his shoulder it shattered as it hit the floor. Reaching into one of many cases in the lab he produced another, prying the lid off.

"No, I was joking," Geros said.

"Isn't anybody gonna ask?" Daniel asked.

"Ask what?" Tau asked.

"How Dr. Wingnut survived, he should have been dead a long time ago," Daniel said.

"Time travel?" Tau asked, taking a drink of his beer.

"Tau, cut down on the amount of sci-fi you watch," Kalista said, "this is real life, not an episode of Star Explorers."

"Well theoretically it's possible, although no one's ever come close to achieving it," Geros said.

"Thank you," Tau said, motioning to Geros.

"You think he found a way to stop himself from aging? He still looks ancient," Kalista said.

"Maybe, what about cloning?" Daniel asked, looking at the others, "cloning himself and transplanting his brain into a new body, or something like that."

"Impossible," Geros said, "they tried something like that on some humans with terminal illnesses about fifty years ago. The shock and trauma of the experience drove them insane each time."

"And if the patient was insane to begin with?" Daniel asked.

"Oooh... didn't think about that," Geros said.

"Did you ever managed to figure out where Whiplash was transmitting that projection from?" Kalista asked.

"According to the trace, about three miles up in space," Geros said.

"He's got an orbital base?" Tau asked.

"No, observation satellites didn't pick up any structures in orbit at the location," Geros said.

"Electronics can be fooled you know, he could have hacked the satellites, cloaked his base, who knows," Kalista said.

"Yeah, well I developed a system to counteract things like that a long time ago," Geros said.

"Like what?" Kalista asked.

"I fired missiles at it," Geros said.

"That'd do it," Daniel said, raising his bottle slightly.

"N.A.R.I.'s pissed off at me now though," Geros said.

"For what, firing missiles into space?" Tau asked.

"No, for making a buncha new craters in the moon, now they have to remap the surface," Geros said, trying not to laugh. The others stopped looking at Geros for a moment, before the entire group busted out laughing.

"I love missiles," Geros said, taking another sip from his beer.

"I don't," Daniel said.

"As to an earlier comment, what's with the boobs?" Geros asked, looking at Kalista's chest.

"I got a droid job," Kalista said, rolling her eyes.

"No, I mean why'd you keep'em?" Geros asked.

"Do you know how much a full cosmetic and armor costs? I'm not rich you know, besides, they make for great conversation starters." Kalista said, looking down as she hefted her chest with both hands.

"You know, now that you've got'em, we could always take'em for a test drive later if you want," Tau said, looking at Kalista with a big smile. Turning to face Tau, Kalista sneered at him, "Lay a hand on me reptile boy and I'll rip your bolts off."

"Hold on a sec, you have an anatomically correct chassis?" Daniel asked, looking at Tau. The question appeared to catch Geros' attention as well who looked at him waiting for an answer. "What?" Tau said, holding his hands up, "it was the most advanced chassis Almon had at his shop. I figure if I got it, I might as well try it out."

"Not with me you won't," Kalista muttered, sipping her beer.

"That's one thing I'll never understand, human's obsession with sex," Geros said.

"Oh tell me about it, you wouldn't believe the number of references I've heard human men use to replace the word penis. Seriously, I've got over one thousand different words stored in my memory, it's insane," Tau said.

"And people wonder why I'm thankful for not having a sex drive," Kalista said. After that the conversation ground to a halt as Kalista, Tau, and Geros all looked over at Daniel. Seemingly lost in thought it took him a moment to notice them staring at him.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"You're the closest thing to a human here, you ever been curious about sex?" Tau asked.

"Don't look at me," Daniel said, "I've pretty much spent all the entire time I've been alive trying not to get killed by someone... or something. I haven't had time to have sex."

"Actually..." Kalista said.

"You, zip it," Daniel said, pointing a finger at her.

"I would say I'm getting too old for this, but meh... I don't age," Geros said.

"Well I've only been active for two weeks, and I already feel too old for this," Daniel said.

"What's with Doc Wipeout's change in tactics anyway?" Tau asked, changing the subject.

"What do you mean?" Geros asked.

"Well think about it, during the Wily Wars this screw loose was matching armies of reploids, all up in everyone's face, now he's playing the silent manipulator?" Tau asked.

"Age I'd imagine," Daniel said, "I don't think he discovered how to cheat death until some time around the final conflict the Mega Man's era. Back then he was growing old, had the specter of death hanging over his shoulder, he had to act fast. After he learned to how to extend his life he had all the time he needed to plot an plan. Instead of months or years, now he can plot decades, even centuries into the future."

"Somebody needs to shoot that jerk," Geros said.

"That's assuming it'd do any good," Kalista said.

"There's a difference between immortality and invincibility, I doubt even Doc Whackjob could live through a point blank plasma buster to the face," Geros said.

"So what, now your gonna start shooting anyone you don't agree with?" Kalista asked.

"Are you seriously defending that guy?" Geros asked, looking at Kalista.

"No, I'm just saying you can't go around acting as judge, jury, and executioner, that's why we have courts and laws," Kalista said.

"I don't just go around shooting anyone I don't agree with, normally I reserve summary judgment for psychotic maniacs bent on world domination. How many lives has been lost in the countless wars he's started, how many lives does he have to take before his is forfeit, and how many lives would be saved if he was dead?" Geros said.

"Can we leave politics at the door please?" Daniel asked, breaking another beer bottle on the floor, "shoulda brought snacks."

"Buuuurp!" Tau said.

Everyone looked at Tau for a moment, then with an eyebrow arched similar to Daniel, Geros responded with, "Uuuuuuuuuuuurp!"

"Oh lovely, now we're discussing bodily emissions?" Daniel asked.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARP!" Kalista said, causing everyone to stop and look at her. "What? Girls can burp too ya know." she said.

Daniel finally decided to have the last word by shifting in his seat slightly, then issued a long, 'frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp'.

"From the front, from the front!" Tau said.

"You guys started it!" Daniel said.

"Tell me something Daniel, if you have a solid durotanium skeleton, how do you produce red blood cells?" Geros asked.

"Synthetic organ," Daniel said, patting his abdomen.

"So what now? We just wait for Senior Insanito to pop up and wreck havoc again?" Kalista asked.

"Neo Arcadia's doing everything it can to locate 'Senior Insanito' as you put it, but you've got to realize who we're dealing with here. I don't know about the most intelligent mind in human history, most dangerous, definitely," Geros said, "I've deployed search teams to scour the planet, but I'd imagine our chances of just stumbling across a base somewhere are pretty slim."

"Well just be sure to keep an eye out for giant fortresses with skulls on the front of them," Kalista said.

"Are you really going to hide out here, work on terraforming the planet, and play the part of a hermit?" Geros asked Daniel.

"Hermits don't usually have friends living with them, but yes, pretty much," Daniel said, "the last thing I want is for people to find out what I really am, do you have any idea the media blitzkrieg I'd have to deal with if word got out that I was the new 'Mega Man'."

"Vultures with cameras they are," Geros said.

"Geez, we've gone through what, fourteen cases of beer, who's gonna clean this place up?" Tau asked.

"Oh look at the time, I've gotta be heading back to the office," Geros said.

"I think the terraforming equipment need recalibrating," Daniel said.

"I'd better check to make sure the computers are working properly," Kalista said.

"Aw what the hell?" Tau exclaimed, as everyone else quickly left the room.

(Author: I know this isn't a normal epilogue, but I thought it'd be funny to just have them sitting around, drinking beer, and shooting the breeze)


End file.
